AMERICAN  MU5LUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

THE  INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN 
ISLAND  AND  VICINITY 


BY  ALAN5ON  5KINNLR 


GUIDL  LLAFLLT  5LRIL5  No.  41 


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These  deal  with  subjects  illuM  rated  by  the  roller-lions  rather  than  with  the  objects 

themseh 

NORTH  AMKRK'AN  INDIANS  OF  THK  PLAINS.  By  CLARK  WISSLER,  Ph.D., 
Curator  of  Anthropology.  October,  1912,  145  pages,  maps  and  illustrations. 
1'njxr,  12")  c<  ///>-•;  <-lo(li  ."»()  c,  i 

This  gives  an  account  of  the  Material  Culture,  Social  Organ  i 
ion,  Ceremonies,  Arts  and  Languages  of  the  Plains  Indians  of  North 
America. 
INDIANS  OF  THK  SOTTHWKST.     By  PLINY  KARLI:  <;.M>I>ARD,  Ph.D 

Curator,    Department    of   Anthropology.      March,    1U1IJ,    190   pages,    nun 
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A  resume  of  our  present  knowledge  of  these  interesting  Indians.  Among 
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Weaving,  the  Potter's  Art  and  the  Hopi  Snake-dance. 

ANIMALS  OF  Till']  PAST.  A  popular  account  of  some  of  the  Creatures  of  the 
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250  pages  with  41  illust  rat  ions  by  Charles  II.  Knight  and  .Joseph  C.leeson.      /'(////•?• 

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ILLUSTRATED   GUIDE    LEAFLETS 

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SOME  OF  THE   LEAFLETS 

NORTH    AMERICAN    Rl'MINANTS.      By  .!.    A.  ALLEN,    Ph.I)  :    of   Mam- 

malogy ;:nd  Ornitholo-  if)  ,-•  ///x. 

the  rapidly  dis:ip])earin.!_  North  Ameri.-- 

as  the  I'.i.-on,  l-;ik  and  Mountain  Sheep. 

THK    METEORITES    IN    Till:    FOYER   OF   THE    AMERICAN    MUSEUM    <>F 

NATURAL  HIST<>KY.     My  ED^IUND  0ns  HOVBT,  Ph.D.,  Curator,   Depart- 
ment   of   (  ieology    and    Invertebrate    I'alaeontoloi  \        1 ).  rember,    1(.K)7. 
K)  cents. 


v.  Library  Univ.  Calif.,  Santa  Cruz 


AMAHIKAN   INDIAN  CHIEF   FROM   THE  HUDSON    RIVER   BELOW  ALBANY 


Note  his  war  club,  the  shape  of  which  is  common  in  his  region,  the  t  hnnderhirds  painted  or  tattooed 
on  his  fare  and  his  belt  embroidered  with  dyed  deer's  hair.  His  totem,  the  Tortoise.  is  ;ii  hjs  (Vet. 
This  man  and  the  three  Mohawk  (  'hiefs  shown  following  formed  a  part  y  which  visited  Kn^land  in  \7()<). 


I-'rom  an 


in  the  possession  of  the   \e\\    York    Historical  SocieU. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND  AND  VICINITY 


'• 


By    Alanson    Skinner, 

Department  of  Anthropology. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THERE  is  no  subject  which 
makes  a  more  forceful  appeal 
to  the  student,  the  historian, 
or  even  the  general  reader,  than  that 
of  tne  native  inhabitants  of  what  is 
now  Greater  New  York;  yet  there  is 
no  subject  upon  which  it  is  more 
difficult  to  obtain  information,  for  our 
Colonial  ancestors  have  left  us  but  few 
accounts  of  their  observations,  and 
these  are  in  tomes  that  are  rare  and 
difficult  of  access. 

The  aborigines  themselves  have  so 
nearly  passed  into  oblivion,  that  no 
help  can  be  obtained  from  their 
scattered  and  degenerate  remnants  in 
exile  in  the  west,  so  that  we  must  turn 
to  two  sources  for  our  knowledge; 
the  writings  of  the  first  white  settlers, 
already  mentioned,  and  the  archaeo- 
logical remains,  the  imperishable 
objects  of  stone,  clay,  bone  and  antler, 
which  the  vanished  red  men  have  left 
behind  them  on  their  ancient  dwelling 
places. 

The  writings  of  the  Colonists  tell  us 
that  in  appearance  the  Manhattans 
and  their  neighbors  were  tall  and  well- 
built,  with  black  hair  and  eyes  and 
not  unpleasing  faces.  Their  dispo- 
sition is  noted  as  mild,  except  when 
aroused,  when  they  are  said  to  have 
been  very  greedy  of  vengeance. 

The  men  shaved  their  heads,  or 
rather  burned  off  their  hair  with  hot 
stones,  leaving  often  a  standing  roach 


of  stiff  black  hair  two  or  three  inches 
high  and  as  many  broad,  running  from 
the  forehead  to  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
and  the  lock  which  hung  from  the 
crown  was  generally  allowed  to  grow 
much  longer.  This  was  the  famous 
scalplock,  which  the  warrior  culti- 
vated in  defiance  of  the  enemy,  who 
might  take  it  if  he  could.  Sometimes 
they  wore  a  roach  of  red  dyed  deer 
hair,  exactly  similar  to  those  worn  by 
the  Sauk,  Fox,  Menomini,  and  other 
tribes  of  the  Central  West  today. 
Our  Indians  did  not  wear  the  feather 
war-bonnet  so  characteristic  of  the 
Sioux  and  other  tribes  of  the  Great 
Plains,  and  which  is  now  always 
placed  upon  the  Indians  in  the  con- 
ventional drawings  picturing  the 
sale  of  Manhattan  Island. 

The  Manhattans  and  their  neigh- 
bors, unlike  the  Indians  west  and 
north  of  them,  wore  no  shirts  or  coats. 
Instead,  they  covered  the  upper  parts 
of  their  bodies  with  robes  made  of 
dressed  deer  leather,  of  wolf,  wildcat, 
or  bear  fur,  or  of  the  shimmering 
feathers  of  the  wild  turkey,  neatly 
attached  to  a  netted  fabric.  So  closely 
and  carefully  were  these  feathers 
applied  that  they  are  said  to  have  shed 
the  rain. 

The  men  also  wore  loin  cloths  or 
breechclouts  of  dressed  leather,  and 
leggings  and  moccasins  of  the  same 
material.  The  moccasins  of  all  the 


A  MOHAWK  CHIEF  FROM  THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY 

observe  his  tattooing  and  his  belt  embroidered  \\illi  d\ed    deer's   liair.       His  totem,  the  Br;ir.  is 
shown  ;il   hi-  tide. 

From  an  en^ravinii  in  I  lie  possession  of  Hie  \e\\    York  Historical  Society. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


Indian  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi 
had  one  point  in  common,  they  were 
soft-soled,  but  west  of  the  Mississippi 
region  the  tribes  of  the  prairies  used 
hard  flat  soles  of  rawhide  for  their 
shoes. 

In  addition  to  this  costume  the 
warriors  wore  necklaces  of  dyed  deer 
hair,  of  native  copper  or  shell  beads, 
or  wampum ;  and  often  they  hung  over 
their  chests  pendants  of  stone  or 
gorgets,  such  as  are  still  to  be  found 
occasionally  upon  the  sites  of  their 
old  camps.  They  also  painted  their 
faces  with  various  pigments,  especially 
red  and  black,  which  they  obtained 
from  limonite  and  graphite  fragments. 
To  this  day  one  may  find  in  the  debris 
of  an  abandoned  Indian  lodge  bits  of 
these  paint  stones  showing  the  striated 
markings  of  the  stone  scrapers  with 
which  the  color  was  removed  for  use. 
The  Manhattans,  being  a  part  of  the 
Delaware  tribe,  an  important  group  of 
the  Algonkin  stock,  probably  followed 
the  ancient  Delaware  custom  of  tattoo- 
ing their  bodies,  with  designs  represent- 
ing their  dreams  and  warlike  exploits. 

Old  paintings  of  the  Delaware  show 
us  that  they  wore  their  knives,  and 
even  their  tobacco  pipes  and  pouches, 
suspended  from  their  necks.  The 
reason  for  wearing  their  knives  in  this 
position,  old  Indians  of  some  of  the 
central  western  tribes  declare,  was  so 
that  they  could  be  more  readily  seized 
at  a  moment's  notice.  Besides  his 
deerskin  tobacco  pouch,  with  its  dyed 
hair  and  porcupine  quill  embroidery 
and  leathern  fringe,  each  warrior 
carried  a  war  club,  carved  of  wood, 
with  a  ball-shaped  head  set  at  right 
angles  from  the  handle,  and  a  six  foot 
bow  and  quiver  of  flint,  bone,  or  antler 
tipped  arrows. 


The  women  were  differently  clothed 
from  the  men.  They  often  wore  their 
hair  in  a  braid  over  which  they  drew  a 
" square  cap,"  ornamented  with  wam- 
pum. Presumably  this  hair  dress  was 
similar  to  that  used  by  the  Winnebago 
and  Sauk  and  Fox  women  of  the 
middle  west  today,  examples  of  which 
may  be  found  in  the  cases  in  the  Wood- 
land Hall  under  the  various  tribal 
designations. 

The  women,  like  the  men,  were 
naked  to  the  waist,  save  for  the  robe, 
which  was  shifted  from  side  to  side, 
according  from  whence  the  coldest 
wind  blew.  They  wore,  however,  knee 
leggings  instead  of  the  hip  length  style 
of  the  warriors,  and  wrapped  about 
their  waists  a  single  square  piece  of 
fringed  leather,  which  was  open  at  one 
side  exactly  like  a  modern  sheath  skirt. 
Sometimes  these  skirts  were  not  made 
of  leather,  but  instead  were  of  cloth 
woven  from  Indian  hemp,  such  as  was 
also  used  to  make  bags.  The  women 
covered  their  gala  costumes  with 
wampum  beads,  and  quill  or  hair 
embroidery,  so  that  some  of  the  old 
chroniclers  declare  that  a  dress  of  this 
sort  was  often  worth  "  above  300 
guilders."  Of  course  the  women,  like 
the  men,  protected  their  feet  with 
dainty  soft-soled  moccasins. 

The  houses  or  wigwams  of  the  Man- 
hattan and  their  neighbors  were  never 
the  conical  shaped,  leather  covered, 
painted  tipis  so  often  shown  in  illus- 
trations. Lodges  of  that  type  were 
only  found  in  the  Great  Plains  area, 
and  northward  up  the  Mackenzie 
River  and  thence  eastward  about 
Hudson  Bay  and  Labrador.  The 
Manhattan  lodges  were  of  bark,  and 
they  and  the  other  local  tribes  com- 
monly built  either  square  or  semi- 


A  MOHAWK  CHIEF  FROM  THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY. 
His  totem  was  the  Wolf,  which  is  shown  beside  him. 

an  nwa  viiitf  in  the  possession  of  tin-  New  York  Historical  Sorirt\ 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


globular  houses  of  poles  arched  over 
and  set  in  the  ground,  covered  with 
bark,  mats  made  of  rushes,  with  corn 
husks,  or  sedge  grass.  Such  houses 
looked  very  much  like  wooden  bowls 
turned  upside  down.  In  the  center  of 
each  wigwam  a  hole  was  dug  in  the 
earthen  floor  to  hold  the  fire  so  that 
the  sparks  might  not  fly  up  and  ignite 
the  dry  walls  of  the  lodge. 

In  such  fire  holes,  marking  the  sites 
of  abandoned  Indian  houses,  archae- 
ologists may  still  find  fire-cracked 
stones,  wood  ashes,  the  split  bones  of 
deer  and  other  animals  broken  open 
to  extract  the  marrow,  oyster  shells, 
fragments  of  earthen  kettles,  stone 
and  bone  implements,  and  all  the  dis- 
carded debris  of  the  household  utensils 
which  were  thrown  away  by  their 
extinct  owners.  Sometimes  in  such  a 
place  whole  articles  are  to  be  had, 
hidden  there  perhaps  during  a  sudden 
attack,  and  never  recovered  by  the 
owner.  There  too,  in  winter,  when  the 
frozen  ground  outside  made  digging 
impossible,  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
were  sometimes  buried  in  the  useful 
fireplace,  and  the  lodge  either 
destroyed,  or  set  up  elsewhere.  In 
proof  of  this  skeletons  have  often  been 
found  in  these  forgotten  fireplaces. 

The  interior  furnishing  of  a  round 
lodge  was  simple  enough.  A  bench 
ran  all  around  the  inside  of  the  wall, 
and  on  this  the  inhabitants  sat  and 
slept.  Poles  swung  horizontally  from 
the  roof,  supported  strings  of  braided 
corn,  and  baskets  or  bags  of  food,  and 
other  paraphernalia.  A  hole  was  left 
in  the  roof,  directly  over  the  hearth, 
for  the  smoke  to  escape. 

Another  kind  of  house,  and  one  that 
was  probably  used  most  frequently 
in  the  summer,  was  a  square  lodge, 


made  of  poles  and  bark,  with  a  pointed 
or  rounded  roof  in  which  a  long  slot 
was  left  at  the  ridge  for  the  escape  of 
smoke.  Such  a  house  was  commonly 
occupied  by  a  number  of  related  fam- 
ilies, and  corresponded  in  many  ways, 
with  the  long  tenements  of  the  Iroquois. 
None  of  the  houses,  and  few  of  the 
villages  of  the  local  Indians  were  ever 
defended  by  palisades  or  trenches. 

We  are  told  by  the  old  writers,  and 
archaeological  investigation  confirms 
them,  that  the  household  utensils  of 
the  Indians  were  pottery  vessels, 
nearly  always,  curiously  enough,  made 
with  a  pointed  bottom,  so  that  they 
had  to  be  propped  up  with  stones  when 
in  use,  calabashes  or  gourds  for  water, 
spoons  of  shell  and  wood,  wooden  bowls 
laboriously  made  by  burning  and 
scraping  knots  or  burls  of  trees,  and 
bone  awls  and  other  tools. 

The  Indians  derived  their  live- 
lihood by  farming  a  little,  for  they 
raised  corn,  beans,  pumpkins, 
squashes,  melons,  and  tobacco;  but 
mostly  by  fishing,  oystering,  and  clam 
gathering.  They  also  were  good 
hunters,  as  the  bones  of  various  ani- 
mals, so  common  on  their  old  kitchen 
refuse  heaps,  abundantly  prove.  How- 
ever, from  the  vast  heaps  of  oyster, 
clam,  mussel,  and  other  marine  shells, 
that  may  be  found  scattered  about  the 
old  Indian  camping  grounds,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  sea  furnished  most  of  their  food. 

They  caught  fish  in  seines  and  gill 
nets,  by  harpooning,  and  by  shooting 
with  the  bow  and  arrow;  they  killed 
deer  and  other  game  with  the  bow  and 
arrow,  often  hunting  in  large  com- 
panies. This  was,  with  the  waging 
of  war,  the  duty  of  the  men;  the  women 
tended  the  fields  and  probably  built 
and  owned  the  lodges. 


A  MOHAWK  CHIEF  FROM  THE  MOHAWK  VALLEY. 

Note  ilic  \v;mipum  bolt.     His  totem,  the  Wolf,  is  shown  beside  him. 
From  an  engraving  in  the  possession  of  the  New  York  Historical  Socictv 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


9 


In  their  fishing,  and  for  traveling  by 
water,  our  Indians  used  canoes  some- 
times made  from  heavy  elm-bark,  but 
more  often  hollowed  out  of  logs. 
Roger  Williams  says  of  the  Narrag- 
ansett  and  their  neighbors: 

Obs:  Mishoon,  an  Indian  Boat,  or  Canow 
made  of  a  Pine  or  Oake,  or  Chestnut-tree: 
I  have  seene  a  Native  goe  into  the  woods  with 
his  hatchet  carrying  onely  a  Basket  of  Corne 
with  him,  and  stones  to  strike  fire  when  he 
had  felled  his  tree  (being  a  Chestnut)  he  made 
him  a  little  House  or  shed  of  the  bark  of  it, 
he  puts  fire  and  followes  the  burning  of  it 
with  fire,  in  the  midst  in  many  places:  his 
corne  he  boyles  and  hath  the  Brook  by  him 
and  sometimes  angles  for  a  little  fish:  but  so 
hee  continues  burning  and  hewing  untill  he 
hath  within  ten  or  twelve  dayes  (lying  there 
at  his  work  alone)  finished,  and  (getting 
hands),  launched  his  boate  with  which  after- 
ward hee  ventures  out  to  fish  in  the  Ocean. 


Obs.  Their  owne  reason  hath  taught 
them,  to  pull  off  a  Coat  or  two  and  set  it  up 
on  a  small  pole,  with  which  they  will  saile 
before  a  wind  ten,  or  twenty  mile  &c. 

****** 

Obs:  It  is  wonderfull  to  see  how  they  will 
venture  in  those  Canoes,  and  how  (being  oft 
overset  as  I  have  myselfe  been  with  them) 
they  will  swim  a  mile,  yea  two  or  more  safe 
to  Land:  I  having  been  necessitated  to  passe 
Waters  diverse  times:  with  them,  it  hath 
pleased  God  to  make  them  many  times  the 
instruments  of  my  preservation,  and  when 
sometimes  in  great  danger  I  have  questioned 
safety,  they  have  said  to  me:  Feare  not,  if 
we  be  overset  I  will  carry  you  safe  to  Land.1 


j  Collections    of  the  Rhode  Island   Historical 
Society,  vol.  1,  pp.  98-99,  Providence,  1827. 


The  NEW  YORK  TIMES  for  July  16; 
1906,  writes: 

Cherry  Hill  was  the  centre  of  an  excited 
crowd  all  day  yesterday  when  the  news  got 
about  that  some  workmen  had  dug  up  an  old 
Indian  canoe  in  an  excavation  at  the  corner 
of  Cherry  and  Oliver  Streets. 

Men,  women,  and  boys  and  girls  flocked 
to  the  spot,  and  so  blocked  the  streets  that 
the  police  of  the  Oak  Street  Station  had  to 
be  sent  there  to  keep  order. 

The  lower  part  of  Oliver  Street  is  made 
ground,  for  in  the  old  days  the  waters  of  the 
East  River  used  to  wash  above  the  Cherry 
Street  line. 

Workmen  from  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany had  made  an  excavation  about  eight 
feet  deep  when  they  came  to  what  seemed  to 
be  a  big  log  near  the  bottom.  They  dug 
around  this  and  disclosed  to  view  what  the 
police  and  all  others  who  viewed  it  said  was 
half  of  an  Indian  canoe.  Then  the  workmen, 
who  don't  take  much  interest  in  anything 
pertaining  to  the  American  Indian,  promptly 
got  an  axe  and  chopped  away  until  they  got 
out  the  timber  in  sight,  leaving  the  other 
half  still  buried  in  the  mud. 

In  doing  this  they  split  the  canoe  into  three 
pieces,  and,  followed  by  an  admiring  crowd, 
it  was  carried  to  the  corner  of  Frankfort  and 
Pearl  Streets,  and  deposited  on  a  pile  of  dirt 
under  the  Franklin  Square  elevated  station, 
where  the  night  watchman  could  keep  his 
eye  on  it  until  to-day,  when  the  workmen 
expect  to  get  the  other  half  and  piece  the 
canoe  together. 

It  is  supposed  that  the  canoe  was  lying  in 
the  mud  a  hundred  years  ago  or  more,  when 
the  river  front  was  filled  in  to  make  more  land. 

The  part  saved  is  about  7  feet  long  and  3  feet 
wide,  and  14  inches  deep,  and  tapers  to  an 
abrupt  and  rounded  end,  which  is  sharp, 
somewhat  like  the  Indian  canoes  of  the  West- 
ern Indian.  The  whole  was  hewn  from  a 
solid  log  of  white  pine  about  fourteen  feet 
long. 


Found  at  Cherry  St.,  New  York. 
Manhattan. 


PART  OF  DUGOUT  CANOE. 

The  only  known  fragment  of  a  canoe  used  by  the  Indians  of 


10 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


The  Indian  children,  shortly  after 
birth,  were  bound  to  a  stiff  board, 
which  served  as  a  cradle,  and  there  they 
were  kept  until  they  were  able  to  walk 
and  run  about.  This  served  the  double 
purpose  of  making  their  backs  straight 
and  also  of  keeping  them  out  of 
mischief. 

The  religion  of  the  Manhattan  and 
their  neighbors  was  a  nature  worship, 
pure  and  simple.  They  believed  that 
there  were  deities  who  dwelt  in  the 
four  quarters  of  the  compass,  that  the 
sun  and  moon,  the  thunder  and  the 
winds  were  various  supernatural 
beings.  That  these  were  all  controlled 
by  a  supreme  god  whom  they  called 
'  'Kickeron,"  or  *  'Kickerom"  was  their 
conviction.  They  thought  that  the 
earth  was  populated  by  the  descend- 
ants of  a  woman  who  fell  from  the  sky 
and  who  would  have  been  lost  in  the 
sea,  save  that  a  gigantic  tortoise  which 
afterwards  became  the  earth,  caught 
her  on  his  back.  They  were  also  in 
fear  of  a  terrible  evil  power,  a  horned 
snake,  to  whom  they  made  sacrifices 
by  burying  objects  in  the  ground  in  its 
name. 

The  Manhattans  and  their  neighbors 
also  believed  in  a  future  existence,  plac- 
ing their  Elysian  fields  in  the  south- 
western skies,  where  they  believed  the 
souls  of  their  dead  journeyed.  It  was 
for  this  reason  that  they  placed  food 
and  implements  in  their  graves  with 
the  bodies,  so  that  the  wandering  soul 
might  lack  nothing  necessary  to  its 
comfort  on  the  trip. 

The  religion  of  the  Indians  was 
marked  by  periodic  ceremonies,  one  of 
which  has  come  down  to  the  present 
day  among  the  modern  remnants  of 
the  Shinnecock  of  Long  Island  and  the 
Mohegan  of  Connecticut.  This  is  the 


"June  Meeting,"  which  was  formerly 
a  ceremony  held  for  the  green  corn. 
The  Delaware  in  Oklahoma  and  Canada 
still  perform  a  number  of  other  annual 
ceremonies. 

The  old  writers  tell  us  that  each 
Indian  had  some  such  name  as  '  'Buck's 
Horn,"  "Wildcat,"  or  " Rattlesnake," 
and  that  when  he  died  it  was  con- 
sidered sacrilegious  ever  to  mention 
his  name  again.  It  is  also  known 
that  polygamy  was  practised  by  the 
local  Indians. 

So  much  for  the  ethnology  of  the 
Manhattan  and  their  neighbors.  Let 
us  now  turn  to  their  archaeology  as  set 
forth  by  the  specimens  on  view  in  the 
entrance  of  the  Woodland  Hall. 

On  entering  the  Eastern  Wood- 
land Indian  Hall  the  visitor  will  find 
that  the  first  table  sections  are 
devoted  to  an  exhibition,  as  com- 
prehensive as  possible,  showing  the 
life  of  the  natives  in  prehistoric 
times  by  means  of  specimens  obtained 
from  the  ancient  village  and  camp  sit  es. 
Here  may  be  seen  bones  of  the  various 
animals,  fish  and  shell-fish  upon  which 
the  Indians  depended  for  subsistence; 
fragments  of  nuts,  corn,  roots  and  other 
food  products  preserved  by  charring 
and  obtained  from  ancient  fireplaces, 
and  such  implements  as  arrow  points 
of  antler  and  stone,  net -sinkers  of  stone 
and  stone  hoes  for  tilling  the  field,  all 
illustrative  of  primitive  methods  of 
hunting  and  agriculture.  Implements 
exhibited  in  the  same  case  show  the 
preparation  of  animal  and  vegetable 
food  with  primitive  utensils,  while  close 
by  are  tools  used  by  the  Indians  in 
preparing  skins.  The  manufactures  of 
the  Indians  are  illustrated  in  the 
immediately  adjacent  section. 

A  progressive  series  of  implements 


INWOOD  ROCK-SHELTER.  MANHATTAN. 


FINCH'S  ROCK  HOUSE. 


11 


12 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


shows  the  making  of  an  arrow  point 
from  a  simple  quartz  pebble  such  as 
might  be  picked  up  anywhere  on  the 
shore,  with  the  various  stages  leading 
to  the  finished  point;  the  tools 
employed  are  also  exhibited.  Imple- 
ments of  stone  for  pecking,  grooving, 
and  polishing;  hatchets  and  axes; 
pottery  fragments,  and  household 
utensils,  such  as  hammers,  axes,  adzes 
and  gouges,  will  be  found  at  hand. 

In  the  upright  cases  there  is  an 
exhibit  from  Manhattan  Island,  made 
up  of  specimens  principally  collected 
by  Messrs.  Alexander  C.  Chenoweth, 
W.  L.  Calver,  and  R.  P.  Bolton,  in  the 
rock-shelters  and  village  sites  at  In- 
wood,  showing  as  fully  as  possible  the 
life  of  the  prehistoric  Manhattan 
Indians. 

In  another  table  case  are  to  be  seen 
implements  and  remains  from  the 


methods  of  cutting  bone  and  antler 
employed  by  these  Indians.  Bone 
was  cut  by  notching  or  grooving  it 
with  a  stone  knife  or  flake,  and  then 
breaking  it  at  the  groove.  Antler  wa> 
worked  in  the  same  way,  but  it  is  very 
probable  that  the  Indians  boiled  antler 
in  order  to  make  it  more  pliable  and 
easily  cut. 

From  the  appearance  of  pottery 
fragments  now  to  be  found  on  the  sites 
of  the  ancient  Indian  villages  of  this 
vicinity  and  the  methods  of  modern 
Indian  pottery  makers,  we  may  safely 
conclude  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the 
earthenware  manufactured  in  this 
locality  was  made  by  the  coil  process, 
which  consisted  of  the  following  steps. 
The  Indians  first  secured  clay  of  a 
suitable  quality,  which  was  mixed  with 
pounded  shell  or  stones  to  make  it 
tougher  and  more  durable.  It  was 


DIAGRAM  OF  A  TYPICAL  SHELL  DEPOSIT. 


shell-heaps  marking  a  long-forgotten 
Indian  village  at  Shinnecock  Hills, 
Long  Island.  This  exhibit,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  complete  of  its  kind, 
gives  a  rather  adequate  picture  of  the 
ancient  life  of  these  people  and  is 
especially  valuable  for  the  number  and 
variety  of  primitive  manufactures 
shown.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  sections  demonstrates,  by  means  of 
a  series  of  specimens,  the  primitive 


then  worked  into  long  rolls,  and  the 
Indians,  beginning  at  the  bottom, 
worked  the  pot  up  by  adding  coil  after 
coil,  blending  or  smoothing  the  coils 
with  a  smooth  stone  until  they  did 
not  show  from  either  the  interior  or 
exterior  surface.  When  the  pot  was 
completed,  it  was  decorated  by  stamp- 
ing or  incising  designs  about  the 
exterior  of  the  rim. 

The  upright  case  at  the  end  contains 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


13 


an  exhibit  from  the  remnants  of  the 
Algonkin  and  Iroquois  Indians  of  New 
York  State  and  New  England,  while 
a  map  showing  the  location  of  most  of 
the  Indian  villages  of  Greater  New 
York  and  vicinity  and  an  actual  section 
of  a  typical  shell-heap,  as  well  as 
photographs  and  labels  describing  the 
opening  and  excavation  of  the  sites  are 
near  at  hand.  Specimens  typical  of 
those  found  in  the  shell-heap  are  also 
exhibited. 

Of  all  the  traces  left  by  the  aborigines 
along  the  New  York  seacoast,  the  most 
abundant  and  familiar  are  the  shell- 
heaps.  These  are  beds  of  refuse  mark- 


cultivation  have  generally  made  it  level 
with  its  surroundings  (Fig.  3).  Very 
often,  unless  the  land  be  plowed,  no 
shells  whatever  show  on  the  surface, 
and  the  only  way  of  finding  out  the 
conditions  of  things  below  the  sod  is 
to  test  with  a  spade  or  a  crowbar.  If 
shells  are  present,  their  crunching  soon 
gives  notice  of  the  fact.  Sometimes 
shell-heaps  have  been  located  by  shells 
thrown  from  animal  burrows,  or  washed 
out  by  the  rain,  or  in  banks  broken 
down  by  the  surf.  Some  have  been 
found  fronting  on  the  open  Sound, 
but  such  cases  are  rare.  These  deposits 
consist  of  large  quantities  of  decayed 


CROSS  SECTION  OF  A  SHELL  PIT. 


ing  the  sites  of  ancient  villages,  camps 
and  isolated  wigwams.  Wherever  the 
fresh  water  joins  the  salt;  especially 
where  open  water  for  fishing,  and  a 
spring  for  drinking  come  together  in 
happy  combination,  there  is  generally 
to  be  found  some  such  evidence  of 
Indian  occupation. 

The  typical  "shell-heap"  is  not  a 
heap  at  all,  for  leaf  mold,  the  wash 
from  neighboring  high  ground,  and  often 


oyster,  clam,  and  other  marine  shells 
mixed  with  stained  earth,  with  ashes, 
charcoal,  and  fire-cracked  stones  to 
mark  the  spots  where  ancient  camp 
fires  blazed.  Among  the  shells  are 
.  usually  scattered  antlers  of  deer,  bones 
of  animals,  fishes,  and  birds,  quantities 
of  pottery  fragments,  and  broken 
implements;  in  short,  the  imperishable 
part  of  the  camp  refuse  left  by  the 
Indians.  Now  and  then,  perfect  imple- 


14 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


ments  and  ornaments  that  had  been 
carelessly  lost  in  the  rubbish  or  hidden 
for  safe-keeping  are  discovered. 

Shell-heaps  vary  from  a  few  inches 
to  four  feet  in  depth,  and  in  area  from 
a  few  square  yards  to  several  acres — 
all  depending  on  the  length  of  time  the 
settlement  was  occupied  and  the 
number  of  dwellings  comprising  it. 
Deep  shell-heaps  are  often  divided  into 


feet  deep  by  three  feet  wide.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  they  were  used  as  ovens  or 
steaming  holes  and  afterwards  filled 
up  with  refuse.  Some  contain  human 
skeletons,  which  may  have  been  inter- 
red in  them  during  the  winter  season 
when  grave  digging  was  impossible. 
These  pits  generally  contain  more  of 
interest  than  the  ordinary  shell-heap. 
The  closely  packed  regular  masses  of 


> 


N.' 


MAP  GIVING  THE  LOCATIONS  OF  SHELL  DEPOSITS. 
Those  marked    i    have  been  explored  by  the  Museum. 


layers,  the  lowest  of  which  are,  of 
course,  the  oldest.  Under  and  near 
most  of  these  deposits  may  be  found 
scattered  "pits"  or  fire  holes,  which 
:uc  l»o \vl-shaped  depressions  in  the 
ground  filled  with  layers  of 
stained  earth,  shells,  and  other  refuse, 
\\ith  an  occasional  layer  of  ashes. 
Some  pits  are  as  large  as  ten  feet  wide 
by  six  feet  deep,  but  the  average  is  four 


shells  form  a  covering  which  tends  to 
preserve  bone  implements,  charred 
corn,  and  such  perishable  articles  from 
decay  in  a  way  that  the  looser  shells  of 
1  hr  general  layers  fail  to  do. 

Shell-heaps,  while  abundant  along 
the  seacoast,  are  seldom  found  inland, 
except  on  salt  creeks  or  other  streams 
having  access  to  salt  water.  They 
may  be  seen  all  along  the  east  shore  of 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


15 


the  Hudson  River  at  more  or  less 
frequent  intervals  as  farupasPeekskill; 
on  Croton  Point  and  between  Nyack 
and  Hook  Mountain  on  the  west  shore 
they  attain  considerable  size.  There 
are  a  few  small  deposits,  however, 
composed  mainly  of  fresh  water  clams 
(Unio)  situated  on  fresh  water  lakes 
in  the  interior  of  Westchester  County. 
There  are  many  shell-heaps  on  Staten 


cemeteries  of  the  Indians  hold  much  of 
interest  to  the  archaeologist. 

Although  most  of  the  natives  in  the 
vicinity  of  Greater  New  York  did  not 
place  objects  in  the  graves  with  their 
dead,  some  graves  at  Burial  Ridge, 
Tottenville,  Staten  Island,  when 
opened  for  the  Museum  in  1895,  were 
found  to  contain  a  great  many  interest- 
ing and  valuable  remains.  With  the 


INDIAN  SKELETONS  PIERCED  BY  ARROW  POINTS,  TOTTENVILLE,  STATEN  ISLAND. 


Island .  Shell-heaps  occur  or  did  occur  on 
Constable  Hook,  New  Jersey,  and  at 
intervals  between  there  and  J  ersey  City 
along  the  western  shore  of  New  York 
Bay.  The  accompanying  map  gives 
the  location  of  the  important  known 
shell  deposits  in  the  vicinity  of  New 
York  City. 

Besides  the  shell-heaps,  the  ancient 


skeleton  of  a  child  there  was  a  great 
deposit  of  utensils,  both  finished  and 
unfinished  ornaments,  such  as  beads, 
pendants,  and  the  like,  a  stone  pipe 
and  a  number  of  other  objects,  while 
not  far  away  the  skeletons  of  three 
Indian  warriors  were  exhumed,  in  and 
among  whose  bones  there  were  found, 
as  shown  in  the  cases  devoted  to  the 


BONES  PUNCTURED  BY  ARROW  POINTS,  FROM  SKELETONS  FOUND  ON  STATEN  ISLAND. 


1G 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


17 


archaeology  of  Staten  Island,  twenty- 
three  arrow  points  of  stone,  antler  and 
bone. 

This  is  an  exhibit  which  excellently 
indicates  the  use  of  the  bow  in  Indian 
warfare.  In  the  first  skeleton,  it  was 
found  that  two  arrow  points  of  antler 
and  one  of  bone  had  pierced  the  body 
and  lodged  near  the  spinal  column. 
Another  point  of  argillite  had  been 
driven  between  two  ribs,  cutting  a 
notch  in  each.  A  bone  arrow  point  had 
struck  the  shoulder  and  was  resting 
against  the  scapula.  Among  the  bones 
of  the  right  hand,  an  arrow  point  of 
antler  was  discovered,  and  there  was  a 
similar  one  near  the  left  hand.  Another 
antler  point  was  lying  in  the  sand  just 
beneath  the  body  and  had,  no  doubt, 
dropped  from  it  when  the  flesh  wasted 
away.  The  most  interesting  wound  of 
all  was  one  where  an  antler-tipped 
arrow  had  ploughed  through  one  side 
of  the  body  and  fully  one-third  of  the 
point  had  passed  through  one  of  the 
ribs,  making  a  hole,  in  which  it 
remained.  The  second  warrior  was 
also  terribly  injured.  The  left  femur 
showed  an  elongated  puncture  near  the 
lower  end,  probably  made  by  an  arrow 
point.  Among  the  ribs  was  the  tip  of 
an  antler  point,  and  another  of  yellow 
jasper  was  among  the  ribs  on  the 
left  side  of  the  body.  Three  other 
points  were  among  the  bones.  The 
third  skeleton  was  likewise  an  example 
of  old-time  bow  play.  There  was  an 
antler  point  among  the  ribs  on  the  left 
side.  The  end  of  one  of  the  fibula?  was 
shattered  by  a  stone  arrow-head,  and 
a  second  point  had  lodged  between  two 
ribs.  Beneath  the  sternum  was  a 
flint  point,  and  the  right  shoulder 
blade  showed  a  fracture  near  the  end, 
caused  by  a  blow  of  some  hand  imple- 


ment or  an  arrow.  Near  the  base  of 
the  skull,  the  end  of  an  antler  arrow- 
head was  discovered,  broken  perhaps 
by  its  impact  with  the  occiput.  Two 
bone  points  were  near  the  lower  bones 
of  the  left  leg.  A  second  point  was 
found  upon  search  among  the  left 
ribs;  under  the  vertebra?  was  the  base 
of  another  antler  point,  and  two 
broken  points  were  found  beneath  the 
body. 

The  positions  in  which  several  of  the 
points  were  found  certainly  speaks  well 
for  the  great  force  which  propelled 
them.  The  long  bows  of  the  local 
Indians  must  indeed  have  been  formid- 
able weapons.  Taking  into  consider- 
ation the  number  of  arrows  which 
must  have  been  imbedded  in  the 
bodies  of  the  warriors,  it  is  perhaps 
probable  that  the  majority  of  the  pro- 
jectiles were  driven  into  the  victims 
at  close  range  after  death. 

In  a  small  square  case  will  be  found 
the  model  of  a  rock-shelter  and 
typical  objects  found  in  such  places. 
These  rock-shelters,  as  the  name  im- 
plies, are  protected  spots  in  rocky 
ledges,  which  Indians  once  made  more 
or  less  permanent  places  of  abode. 
Many  such  shelters  exist  in  the  vicinity 
of  New  York,  two  or  more  having  been 
discovered  at  Inwood,  Manhattan. 
The  most  important  rock-shelter  so  far 
discovered  is  the  so-called  Finch  Rock 
House  reproduced  in  a  model.  The 
original  is  near  Armonk,  Westchester 
County,  New  York.  One  point  of 
special  interest  is  the  fact  that  the 
Finch  shelter  contained  two  layers 
bearing  relics  separated  by  sand  as 
shown  in  the  drawing.  As  no  pottery 
was  found  in  the  bottom  layer,  it  has 
been  inferred  that  we  have  here  the 
remains  of  two  different  races  of 


18 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


Indians,  the  older  not  yet  advanced  to 
the  pottery-making  stage.  This  con- 
clusion, is,  however,  far  from  final,  for 
the  whole  arrangement  may  be  due  to 
accident. 

In  the  table  cases  opposite  those 
devoted  to  the  Algonkin  some  sections 
are  used  to  show  the  life  history  of  the 
Iroquois  tribes  of  western  New  York, 
and  the  following  section  shows,  as 


well  as  possible,  the  culture  of  the 
Five  Nations  and  objects  used  by  the 
Indians  of  New  York  State  obtained 
from  European  traders  after  the  advent 
of  the  settlers. 

With  the  Iroquois  exhibit  is  a  special 
exhibit  showing  typical  wampum 
beads,  belts,  and  implements  illustrat- 
ing the  prehistoric  manufacture  of 
wampum  on  Long  Island. 


^S^s^s^g^?^--.- •-•.-.-.  ?-»'-_LI  '•  '•'•'.v^s>. '.- '. '-.  •^^^—r^-  -—  •rf=: 


i /////// /////'//////////  //////////////////> 

VERTICAL  SECTION  OF  REFUSE  IN  FINCH'S  ROCK  HOUSE,  ABOUT  MIDWAY  OF  THE  CAVE. 


TYPES  OF  INDIAN  RELICS  FOUND  IN  AND  ABOUT  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


HAVING  now  taken  a  general 
view  of  the  exhibit,  the  vis- 
itor may  be  interested  in 
a  study  of  the  several  kinds  of 
relics  found  in  this  locality.  As  these 
types  are  somewhat  unlike  those 
found  in  near-by  regions,  we  conclude 
that  the  Indians  formerly  living  here 
had  habits  and  customs  different  from 
those  of  their  neighbors.  For  want  of 
a  better  name,  these  long-extinct 
tribes  have  been  called  collectively 
the  New  York  Coastal  Algonkin.  The 
term  Algonkin  designates  the  language 
they  spoke,  while  the  adjectives  define 
their  habitat. 

Under  the  designation  New  York 
Coastal  Algonkin,  the  writer  includes 
the  tribes  along  the  coast  from  Totten- 


ville,  Staten  Island,  the  extreme  sou- 
thern point  of  the  state,  to  the  Connec- 
ticut boundary  on  Long  Island  Sound, 
including  to  a  certain  extent  the  shores 
of  New  Jersey  immediately  adjacent 
to  Staten  and  Manhattan  Islands,  the 
east  bank  of  the  Hudson  River  as  far 
north  as  Yonkers,  and  exclusive  of 
Long  Island  except  the  western  end. 
From  the  examination  of  the  remains 
of  the  New  York  Coastal  Algonkin  area 
preserved  in  many  collections,  both 
public  and  private,  it  becomes  obvious 
that  the  objects  found  may  be  roughly 
divided  into  three  groups:  articles  of 
stone,  articles  of  bone  and  antler,  and 
articles  of  clay,  shell,  and  metal.  The 
first  group  is,  from  the  imperishable 
nature  of  its  representatives,  naturally 


4*1*41*1*1 


15          16          IT          18 


33^          34-  35        v       36  37  39          ^ 

^^^  "i.9 


48 


>  I 


TYPES  OF  ARROW  POINTS. 


20 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


the  largest  and  comprises  a  number  of 
sub-groups  to  be  briefly  described  and 
commented  upon  in  this  paper. 
Examples  of  this  type  will  be  found  in 
the  table  cases  previously  mentioned. 
For  the  following  descriptions  and 
historical  notes  the  author  has  largely 
drawn  on  Mr.  James  K.  Finch's  and 
his  own  contributions  to  Volume  III 
of  the  '  'Anthropological  Papers  of  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory" (New  York,  1909). 

CHIPPED  ARTICLES. 

Arrow  Points.  Two  general  types 
of  arrow  points  may  be  recognized: 
these  are  the  stemmed  or  notched,  and 
the  triangular  forms.  The  former  are 
by  far  the  most  abundant,  and  while 
these  are  usually  made  of  the  nearest 
local  rock  possessing  the  necessary 
conchoidal  fracture,  in  some  cases  they 
are  of  material  brought  from  a  long 
distance.  Specimens  made  of  pink 
flint  resembling  stone  from  the  Flint 
Ridge  of  Ohio,  and  of  jasper  found 
to  the  south  of  this  region  have  been 
recorded.  Blunt  arrow  points  are 
rare,  the  Indians  probably  preferring 
wooden  arrows  for  this  type.  Many  of 
the  so-called  "blunt  points"  found  in 
collections  appear  to  be  scrapers  made 
over  from  broken  arrow  points  of  a 
large  size. 

The  triangular  type  has  long  been 
regarded  by  the  local  collectors  of  this 
vicinity  as  being  the  type  used  in  war, 
the  argument  being  that  as  it  has  no 
stem,  it  was  necessarily  but  loosely 
fastened  in  its  shaft  and,  if  shot  into 
the  body,  would  be  very  liable  to  be- 
come detached  and  remain  in  the  flesh 
if  any  attempt  were  made  to  withdraw 
it  by  tugging  at  the  shaft.  While  it 
was  no  doubt  perfectly  possible  to 


fasten  a  point  of  triangular  shape  to 
the  shaft  as  firmly  as  a  notched  point, 
the  discoveries  of  Mr.  George  H. 
Pepper  at  Tottenville,  Staten  Island, 
where  twenty-three  arrow  points  were 
found  in  and  among  the  bones  of  three 
Indian  skeletons,  tend  to  strength  this 
theory.  While  the  majority  of  points 
found  there  were  of  bone  or  antler,  all 
those  made  of  stone  were  of  this  type; 
indeed,  most  of  the  bone  points  were 
also  triangular  in  shape.  However, 
it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  arrow 
points  of  triangular  type  were  used  for 
every  purpose  by  all  the  early  Iroquois 
tribes  of  New  York. 

Spear  Points  and  Knives.  None  of 
the  early  accounts  of  contemporary 
European  writers  seem  to  mention  the 
use  of  spears  (other  than  bone  or  antler- 
headed  harpoons)  by  the  Indians  here- 
abouts, and  it  is  probable  that  the 
larger  arrow-point  like  forms  found 
were  used  as  knives  or  cutting  tools. 
They  are  usually  notched  or  stemmed, 
rarely  triangular,  and  occasionally 
round  or  oval.  They  vary  in  size,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  one  tool 
may  have  had  various  uses,  and  that 
drills,  knives  and  scrapers  may  often 
have  been  combined  in  one  implement. 

Scrapers.  Scrapers  were  probably 
used  in  dressing  skins,  in  sharpening 
bone  implements,  wood-working,  and 
for  various  other  purposes.  These  are 
usually  mere  flint  flakes  chipped  to  an 
edge  on  one  side.  Nevertheless, 
notched  and  stemmed  forms  requir- 
ing some  care  in  their  making  do  occur. 
Broken  arrow  points  were  occasionally 
chipped  down  to  serve  this  purpose. 
A  single  serrated  scraper  has  been 
found.  These  are  very  rare  in  both 
the  Algonkian  and  Iroquoian  areas  of 
New  England  and  the  Middle  Atlantic 


KNIVES  AND  SCRAPERS 


21 


22 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


States.  One  very  large  stemmed 
scraper,  of  a  type  more  common  in  the 
far  west,  also  comes  from  this  locality. 
Drills.  These  are  usually  chipped 
tools  presenting  an  elongated  narrow 
blade  and  a  considerably  swollen  or 
expanded  base,  suitable  for  grasping 
in  the  hand.  In  some  cases  the  base 
was  absent  and  those  were  probably 
hafted  in  wood.  Specimens  whose 
blades  have  a  square  or  rectangular 
cross-section  are  very  rare.  The  find- 
ing of  cores  left  in  half-drilled  objects 
shows  the  use  of  a  hollow  drill,  and  it 
has  been  suggested  that  a  hard  hollow 
reed  used  with  sand  and  water  on  a 
soft  stone  would  produce  this  effect. 
To  bear  out  this  assertion,  it  has  been 
reported  that  a  half-drilled  implement 
has  been  found  outside  this  area  on  the 
upper  Hudson  in  which  the  remains  of 
the  reed  drill  were  found  in  the  cavity 
left  by  its  action. 

ROUGH  STONE  ARTICLES. 

Hammer  stones.  These  vary  from 
simple  pebbles  picked  up  and  used  in 
the  rough,  showing  merely  a  battered 
edge  or  edges  acquired  by  use,  to  the 
pitted  forms.  They  are  generally  mere 
pebbles  with  a  pit  pecked  on  two 
opposite  sides,  perhaps  to  aid  in  grasp- 
ing with  the  thumb  and  forefinger. 
Some  have  battered  edges,  but  many 
have  not,  suggesting,  when  round  and 
regular,  a  use  as  gaming  or  "Chunke" 
stones,  or  as  implements  used  only  in 
pounding  some  rather  soft  substance. 
Hammerstones,  pitted  on  one  side  only, 
and  others  with  many  pits  on  all  sides, 
occur.  These  latter  may  have  had  some 
special  use,  and  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  large  flat,  slab-like 
stones  having  pits  only  on  one  side, 
found  in  other  regions,  and  perhaps 


used  as  receptacles  for  holding  nuts 
while  cracking  them.  While  these  are 
common  in  the  Iroquoian  area,  they 
are  unknown  here. 

Large  stones,  single  or  double- 
pitted,  resembling  over-sized  hammer- 
stones  occur.  These  may  have  been 
used  as  anvils  in  chipping  flint  or  for 
like  purposes. 

Grooved  clubs  or  mauls,  also  showing 
use  as  hammers  are  found.  These  are 
rare  and  are  usually  either  rough 
pebbles,  grooved  for  hafting,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  grooved  axe,  or  grooved 
axes,  the  blades  of  which  have  become 
so  battered,  broken,  and  rounded  by 
wear  as  to  preclude  their  further  use 
for  chopping. 

Net-sinkers.  On  all  sites  near  the 
water,  either  salt  or  fresh,  net-sinkers 
show  the  prevalence  of  fishing.  These 
are  of  two  types.  In  one  case  a  pebble 
is  notched  on  opposite  sides  of  either 
the  long  or  broad  axis ;  in  the  other,  a 
groove  is  pecked  around  the  entire 
pebble  in  the  same  manner.  The  latter 
type  is  comparatively  scarce,  as  the 
former,  being  more  easily  and  quickly 
made,  was  just  as  useful  to  the  savage. 
The  modern  Cree  and  O  jib  way,  resid- 
ing in  the  forests  north  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  still  use  pebbles  for  this  purpose, 
but  those  observed  by  the  writer  wnv 
not  notched  or  worked  in  any  way. 
Occasionally,  sinkers  notched  on  both 
axes  are  found  in  this  region. 

Hoes.  These  are  usually  ovoid 
implements,  chipped  from  trap  rock, 
sometimes  notched  to  facilitate  haft- 
ing,  and  sometimes  not.  They  usually 
show  a  slight  polish  on  the  blade, 
caused  by  friction  with  the  ground. 
This  type  of  stone  hoe  is  the  form 
mentioned  by  early  writers;  but  per- 
haps hoes  of  shell,  bone,  or  tortoise 


fit 


DRILLS.  SCRAPERS  AND  OTHER  OBJECTS. 


24 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


shell,  and  wood  were  used  also.  None 
of  these,  however,  are  still  in  existence. 

Hand  Choppers.  Pebbles  chipped  to 
an  edge  on  one  side,  for  use  as  hand 
choppers,  occur.  These  are  occasionally 
pitted  on  both  sides. 

Grooved  Axes.  For  the  purposes  of 
this  paper,  the  writer,  while  aware  that 
many  grooved  axes  are  well  made  and 
polished,  has  decided  to  include  them 
under  the  head  of  "Rough  Stone 
Articles,"  as  by  far  the  greater  majority 
of  the  grooved  axes  and  celts  from  this 
region  lack  the  polish  and  finish  belong- 
ing to  other  articles  later  to  be  described. 
Grooved  axes  are  of  two  sorts:  a,  those 
made  of  simple  pebbles,  merely  modi- 
fied by  grooving  and  chipping  or  peck- 
ing an  edge;  and  b,  axes  which  have 
been  pecked  and  worked  all  over  and 
sometimes  polished.  The  latter  (6)  may 
be  said  to  include : 

1.  Groove  encircling  three  sides  of 
blade,  one  side  flat. 

2.  Ridged  groove  encircling  three 
sides  of  blade,  one  side  flat. 

3.  Groove  encircling  three  sides  of 
blade,  longitudinal  groove  on  flat  side. 

4.  Groove  encircling  three  sides  of 
blade,  longitudinal  groove  on  flat  side 
and  opposite. 

5.  Groove  encircling  blade. 

6.  Ridged  groove  encircling  blade. 
A  seventh  type,   having  a  double 

groove  encircling  the  blade,  may  occur 
in  this  territory,  but  has  never  been 
reported.  A  specimen  from  the  Hudson 
River  region,  just  north  of  the  area 
here  dwelt  upon,  is  in  the  Henry  Booth 
Collection  in  this  Museum.  While  most 
worked  stone  axes  have  been  pecked 
into  shape,  a  few  have  been  fashioned 
by  chipping,  but  these  seem  to  be  rare. 
Grooved  axes  were  hafted  in  various 
ways.  During  the  summer  of  1908, 


the  Eastern  Cree  living  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  southern  end  of  Hudson  Bay 
told  the  writer  that  their  ancestors, 
who  made  and  used  such  axes,  hafted 
them  by  splitting  a  stick  and  setting 
the  blade  in  it,  then  binding  the  handle 
together  with  deerskin  (probably  raw- 
hide) above  and  below  the  split.  No 
specimens  of  the  grooved  axe  in  the 
original  haft  seem  now  to  be  extant 
from  any  locality  in  the  East.  From 
the  battered  appearance  of  the  butts 
of  these  axes,  it  may  have  been  that 
they  were  sometimes  used  in  lieu  of 
mauls  or  hammers.  It  is  possible  that 
they  may  have  been  used  in  war.  It 
is  generally  supposed  that  in  cutting 
down  trees,  making  dug-out  canoes  and 
other  kinds  of  wood-working,  fire  was 
used  as  an  adjunct  to  the  stone  axe, 
the  former  being  the  active  agent.  The 
process  of  burning  and  charring  having 
gone  on  sufficiently,  the  stone  axe  was 
used  to  remove  the  burned  portion. 
However,  some  stone  axes  seem  sharp 
enough  to  cut  quite  well  without  the 
aid  of  fire. 

Celts.  Ungrooved  axes  or  hatchets, 
usually  called  celts,  are  frequent 
throughout  this  area;  but  are  nowhere 
as  abundant  as  the  grooved  axe, 
especially  near  the  southern  border  of 
the  region.  The  grooved  axe  seems  to 
have  been  the  typical  cutting  and  chop- 
ping tool  of  the  local  Algonkin.  The 
widespread  idea  that  the  celt  was  some- 
times used  unhafted  as  a  skinning  tool, 
has  no  historic  proof,  but  may  possibly 
have  some  foundation.  The  Cree  of  the 
southern  Hudson  Bay  region  use  an 
edged  tool  of  bone  for  this  purpose,  a 
fact  which  is  somewhat  suggestive. 
although  the  implement  differs  in  shape 
from  the  celt.  Celts  with  one  side  flat 
and  the  other  beveled  to  an  edge  may 


TYPES  OF  STONE  AXES  AND  CELTS. 


25 


26 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


have  been  used  as  adzes.  From  the 
worn  and  hammered  appearance  of  the 
polls  of  some  celts,  it  is  possible  that 
many  of  these  implements  were  used 
as  wedges  in  splitting  wood,  after 
constant  manipulation  in  their  chop- 
ping capacity  had  permanently  dulled 
their  edges. 

The  celts  of  this  region  are,  as  a 
general  thing,  poorly  made,  a  pebble  of 
suitable  shape  having  an  edge  ground 


broader  than  the  butt,  although  some 
exceptions  have  been  found.  The 
forms  are  as  follows:  a,  rough  stone 
celts,  pebbles  with  one  end  ground  to 
an  edge,  but  otherwise  scarcely  worked ; 
and  6,  worked  stone  celts,  which 
include  the  following : 

1.  Wedge-shaped,     poll     narrower 
than  bit,  and  angles  rounded. 
Common. 

2.  Like  number  one,  but  with  bit 


HAFTED  CELT  FROM  A  POND  AT  THORNDALE,  DUTCHESS  CO..  N.  Y. 

Length  of  celt  16.6  cm. 


on  it  with  little  or  no  preliminary  shap- 
ing. More  rarely,  however,  they  were 
carefully  worked  all  over  by  pecking 
and  polishing,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
grooved  axe. 

In  type,  aside  from  the  general 
division  of  rough  and  worked  celts,  we 
may  add  that  most  celts  in  this  region 
have  slightly  rounded  polls,  the  bit 


much  broader  than  poll.    Cross- 
section  oval.    Very  rare. 

3.  Like  number  one,  but  one  side 

flat,  other  beveled  at  one  end  to 
make  a  cutting  edge. 

4.  Like  number  two,  but  with  cut- 
ting edge  flaring,  broader  than 
body.       "Bell-mouthed   type." 
Very  rare. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


27 


North  and  west  of  this  region,  we 
find  the  Iroquois  territory  where  most 
worked  celts  are  angular,  having  almost 
invariably  a  rectangular  cross-section 
and  squared  butt.  Types  1  and  3  also 
occur,  but  the  celt  with  the  rectangular 
cross-section  seems  most  typical  of  the 
Iroquoian  region.  Many  small  celts, 
made  of  flat  fragments  or  chips  of 
stone,  are  also  found  in  this  area,  and 
these  could  scarcely  have  had  a  use  as 
chopping  tools. 

In  the  Niagara  watershed  and 
extending  eastward  as  far  as  the 
Genesee  Valley,  an  angular  adze-like 
form  having  a  trapezoidal  cross-section 
occurs.  It  is  found  principally  in  what 
was  the  territory  of  the  Attiwandaronk, 
Kah-Kwah,  or  Neutral  Nation  (an 
Iroquoian  tribe,  early  annihilated  by  the 
Five  Nations).  It  also  occurs,  as  has 
been  stated,  on  the  sites  of  villages  of 
the  Iroquois  proper,  but  is  not  abund- 
ant. South  of  the  Iroquois  in  Central 
Pennsylvania,  another  form  which  does 
not  occur  in  this  region  is  the  chipped 
celt,  usually  of  flint  or  other  hard  stone. 
This  form  is,  however,  frequent  in  the 
country  about  the  headwaters  of  the 
Delaware. 

In  the  ''American  Anthropologist," 
Vol.  9,  No.  2,  p.  296  et  seq.,  Mr.  C.  C. 
Willoughby  has  figured  and  described 
the  celts  of  the  New  England  region 
with  remarks  on  the  methods  of  hafting 
employed.  These  seem  to  be  two  in 
number,  and  consist,  in  the  case  of  the 
larger  forms,  of  setting  the  blade 
through  a  hole  in  the  end  of  a  club-like 
handle,  the  butt  or  poll  projecting  on 
one  side  and  the  blade  on  the  other  as 
in  one  which  was  found  in  the  muck  of  a 
pond  bottom  at  Thorndale,  Dutchess 
County,  New  York,  a  region  once  in 
the  Mahican  territory.  Smaller  celts 


were  set  into  a  club-like  handle,  the 
butt  resting  in  a  hole  or  socket. 

Adzes.  These  seem  to  be  of  two 
kinds,  the  first  and  most  simple  being 
celt-like,  but  flat  on  one  side,  the  other 
side  being  beveled  to  an  edge  on  one 
side.  The  second  form  differs  in  hav- 
ing a  groove,  which  is  not  infrequently 
ridged.  Occasionally,  adzes  with  two 
parallel  grooves  occur.  They  were 
probably  hafted  by  taking  a  stick  at 
one  end  of  which  projected  a  short  arm 
at  right  angles  with  the  shaft,  laying 
the  flat  side  of  the  blade  against  this 
arm  and  binding  it  on  with  sinew, 
thongs,  or  withes.  The  groove,  of 
course,  was  of  aid  in  securing  the  blade 
to  the  handle.  Adzes  of  stone,  hafted 
in  this  manner,  have  been  obtained  on 
the  North  Pacific  Coast.  The  celt 
adze  seems  not  uncommon,  but  the 
grooved  adze  is  rare,  neither  form 
being  nearly  so  abundant  as  in  the  New 
England  region. 

Gouges.  The  stone  gouge  is  rare, 
and  seems  always  to  be  a  plain,  single- 
bladed  affair  without  the  transverse 
grooves  so  frequently  seen  in  New 
England  specimens,  and  hereabouts  is 
always  easily  distinguished  from  the 
adze.  Less  than  half  a  dozen  specimens 
have  been  seen  by  the  writer  from  this 
entire  area,  although  probably  quite 
as  much  work  in  wood  was  done  by  the 
New  York  Coastal  Algonkin  as  by  the 
New  England  Indians. 

Pestles.  The  long  pestle  occurs 
throughout  the  region  of  the  Coastal 
Algonkin  of  New  York,  but  is  nowhere 
as  abundant  as  in  New  England. 
They  seem  always  to  have  been  used 
with  the  wooden  block  mortar  here- 
abouts, and  are  mentioned  by  the  early 
writers  as  part  of  the  household  equip- 
ment of  the  natives.  They  do  not  seem 


28 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


to  have  been  used  by  the  Iroquois  to 
the  north  and  west  of  this  area  either 
in  early  or  later  times.  The  wooden 
pestle  of  dumb-bell  shape  seems  to 
have  been  preferred  by  them.  The 
latter  is  used  by  the  Canadian  Dela- 
ware and  may  have  taken  the  place  of 
the  long  stone  pestle  to  a  great  extent 
in  this  region. 

Midlers,  Grinders,  and  Polishing 
Stones.  These  are  frequent,  and  consist 
merely  of  rounded  pebbles,  shaped  and 
worn  by  use,  probably  most  often  in 
crushing  corn.  They  are  mentioned  by 
De  Vries  as  being  used  by  the  Indians 
with  a  flat  stone  slab  for  grinding  corn 
when  traveling.  Some  seem  to  have 
been  used  for  polishing  stone  imple- 
ments, but  it  seems  hard  to  draw  the 
line,  as  the  appearance  gained  from 
friction  would  be  quite  similar.  Such 
mullers  and  their  attendant  slabs, 
used  for  preparing  corn  meal  have 
within  a  few  years  been  collected  in 
use  among  the  Oneida  Iroquois  of  New 
York,  one  specimen  being  in  the  Ameri- 
can Museum  collection. 

Sinew  Stones.  These  are  pebbles 
showing  grooves  along  the  edges, 
popularly  supposed  to  have  been  worn 
there  by  rubbing  thongs  and  sinews 
across  the  edges  to  shape  them.  They 
occur  generally,  but  are  not  common. 

Stone  Mortars.  These  are  common, 
but  rather  local,  some  sites  having  none 
at  all,  and  others  a  good  many.  One 
locality  on  Staten  Island  is  notable  for 
the  numbers  found  there,  whereas  they 
are  rare  elsewhere  in  that  vicinity. 
They  may  be  divided  into  the  following 
types: 

1 .  Portable   mortar,   hole   on   one 
side. 

2.  Portable  mortar,  hole  on  both 
sides  (New  Jersey  type). 


3.  Portable  slab  mortar  or  metate, 
used  on  one  or  both  sides. 

4.  Boulder   mortar,    one   or   more 
holes,  immovable. 

The  first  two  types  are  the  most 
abundant,  the  third  is  not  uncommon, 
but  the  fourth  is  very  rare,  only  one  or 
two  being  reported.  As  above  stated, 
De  Vries  claims  that  the  portable 
mortars  were  used  in  bread-making 
while  the  Indians  were  traveling,  but 
certainly  the  majority  of  those  found 
are  far  too  heavy  for  this  purpose. 

Pigments  and  Paint  Cups.  Frag- 
ments of  pigments  such  as  graphite 
and  limonite,  showing  the  marks  of 
scratching  with  scrapers,  are  found, 
which  have  apparently  supplied  the 
material  for  painting.  Worked  geodes 
are  common  on  many  sites.  These 
show  traces  of  chipping  in  some  in- 
stances and  may  have  been  paint  cups. 
There  is  a  tiny  pestle-shaped  pebble  in 
the  Museum  collection  from  West- 
chester  County,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  found  with  a  geode  of  this  type. 
The  popular  theory  is  that  such  geodes 
were  used  as  "paint  cups"  and  this 
seems  probable. 

Stone  Plummets.  These  are  very 
rare,  in  contrast  to  their  abundance  in 
the  New  England  region.  They  consist 
usually  of  small  worked  egg-shaped 
stones,  grooved  at  one  end,  probably 
for  suspension.  The  writer  has  seen 
but  one  from  this  area.  Their  use  is 
problematic. 

Semilunar  Knives.  Knives  of  rubbed 
slate,  similar  in  appearance  to  the  ulu, 
or  woman's  knife  of  the  Eskimo,  are 
found,  though  rarely,  in  this  region. 
While  sometimes  ascribed  to  Eskimo 
influence  or  contact,  it  is  possible  that 
this  form  (which  occurs  throughout  New 
England),  judging  by  its  distribution, 


BANNER  STONES,  GORGETS,  AND  AMULETS. 


29 


30 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


may  have  been  native  to  the  Eastern 
Algonkin  also.  The  Eastern  Cree  still 
use  knives  of  this  type  as  scrapers. 
Like  most  other  forms  common  in  New 
England,  it  is  less  abundant  in  the 
southern  part  of  this  area. 

Stone  Beads.  Various  pebbles  gen- 
erally perforated  naturally  are  to  be 
found  on  some  sites,  and  may  or  may 
not  have  been  used  as  beads  or  pend- 
ants. On  Staten  Island,  at  Watchogue, 
Mr.  Isaiah  Merrill  once  owned  a 
number  of  square  beads  of  pinkish 
steatite  (?),  all  but  one  of  which  have 
been  lost,  and  which  he  claims  were 
found  on  his  farm. 

Gorgets.  Two  types  of  the  gorget 
occur.  These  are  the  single-holed 
pendant  form,  which  is  the  less  abund- 
ant of  the  two,  and  the  double-holed 
type.  The  latter  is  flat,  rectangular  in 
shape,  and  generally  well  polished.  It 
usually  has  two  perforations  a  short 
distance  from  the  middle.  The  modern 
Lenape  of  Canada  claim  to  have  used 
these  as  hair  ornaments.  Probably  the 
two-holed  variety  is  typical  of  the 
Algonkian  peoples  of  this  region,  the 
single-holed  form,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  the  most  abundant  on  old  Iroquoian 
sites.  Specimens  of  the  latter  have  been 
obtained  in  use  among  the  Canadian 
Iroquois,  and  some  of  them  are  in  the 
Museum  collections. 

Amulets.  Certain  problematic  ar- 
ticles of  the  "bar"  and  even  "bird 
amulet"  type  have  been  found,  but 
these  are  probably  exotic  in  origin  and 
are  not  characteristic  of  the  archae- 
ology of  the  region  in  question. 

Banner  Stones.  These  beautiful  pol- 
ished stone  implements  of  unknown  use 
may  be  divided  into  three  great  classes, 
with  several  sub-types  as  follows: 

1 .     Notched  banner  stones. 


2.  Grooved  banner  stones. 

a.  Groove  on  both  sides. 

b.  Groove  on  one  side. 

3.  Perforated  banner  stones. 

a.  Plain. 

b.  Butterfly. 

All  three  types  seem  equally  abund- 
ant, but  the  notched  banner  stones 
appear  to  be  the  oldest  form  and  occur 
under  circumstances  pointing  to  great 
relative  antiquity.  They  are  found, 
however,  on  the  more  recent  sites  as 
well.  Both  the  notched  and  the  grooved 
banner  stones  are  usually  more  rough 
in  appearance  than  the  perforated 
type,  and  the  writer  has  never  seen  a 
polished  specimen  of  the  first  class.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  grooved  variety 
frequently  exhibits  the  high  degree  of 
finish  characteristic  of  the  perforated 
forms.  Banner  stones  grooved  only  on 
one  side  are  less  common  than  the 
other  forms.  While  the  latter  class  is 
generally  made  of  slate,  steatite,  or 
some  similar  soft  and  easily  worked 
material,  the  notched  and  grooved 
forms,  especially  the  former,  are  often 
formed  either  from  naturally-shaped 
pebbles  or  chipped  roughly  into  shape. 
Implements,  usually  naturally-shaped 
stones  with  little  working,  without 
notches,  grooves  or  perforations,  but 
greatly  resembling  the  notched  and 
grooved  banner  stones  in  shape,  are  not 
infrequently  found  on  aboriginal  sites 
hereabouts  and  may  have  served  as 
banner  stones.  There  seem  to  be 
neither  records  nor  plausible  theories 
as  to  their  use. 

Pipes.  Stone  pipes,  invariably 
made  of  steatite,  are  very  rare.  Four 
types  have  been  noted  as  folio ws:- 

1.  Monitor  or  platform  pipe,  plat- 
form not  projecting  before  the 
bowl. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


31 


2.  Monitor  or  platform  pipe,  plat- 
form   projecting   before    bowl, 
with    or   without    tiny    carved 
stem    or   mouthpiece.     Of   the 
latter,  one  specimen  is  known. 

3.  Trumpet-shaped      stone      pipe. 

4.  Rectangular  stone  pipe,  human 
face  carved  on  front  of  bowl. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  more  stone 
pipes  have  been  reported  from  the  Indian 
cemetery  at  Burial  Ridge,  Tottenville, 
Staten  Island,  than  from  all  the  rest  of 
the  area  put  together.  The  second 
and  third  types  are  represented  by  one 
specimen  each  from  Burial  Ridge  and 
from  nowhere  else  in  this  region.  Four 
or  five  pipes  of  the  first  class  have  been 
found  there  as  well.  The  last  class  is 
represented  by  a  single  specimen  ob- 
tained by  Mr.  W.  L.  Calver  at  Inwood, 
Manhattan  Island.  Undoubtedly  the 
clay  pipe  was  the  most  common  form 
used  in  this  locality. 

Steatite  Vessels.  These  are  not  at 
all  abundant,  though  occurring  almost 
everywhere.  They  were  doubtless  all 
imported  from  New  England,  as  there 
are  no  steatite  quarries  within  the  range 
of  the  New  York  Coastal  Algonkin. 
The  single  form  found  is  that  common 
in  the  east,  an  oblong,  fairly  deep  vessel 
with  a  lug,  ear,  or  handle  at  each  end. 
Occasionally,  such  vessels  are  orna- 
mented by  rude  incisions  along  the  rim. 

ARTICLES  OF  CLAY. 

Pottery  Pipes  are  common  every- 
where. They  are  usually  manufac- 
tured of  a  better  quality  of  clay  than 
that  used  for  vessels,  and  bear  fairly 
similar  designs.  They  are  susceptible 
of  division  into  the  following  classes: 

1.  Straight  pipe,   bowl   expanding 
slightly. 

2.  Bowl   much   larger   than   stem, 


leaving  it  at  an  angle  of  forty- 
five  degrees.     Stem  round. 

3.  Same  as  number  2,   but  stem 

angular    and    much    flattened. 

4.  Effigy  pipes,  (represented  by  a 
pottery  human  head  apparently 
broken     from     a     pipe     bowl, 
obtained  by  Mr.  M.  R.  Harr- 
ington   at    Port    Washington, 
Long  Island). 

The  straight  pipe  seems  to  have 
been  obtained  only  on  Staten  Island 
on  the  north  shore  in  the  region  occu- 
pied by  the  Hackensack.  While  no- 
where as  abundant  as  upon  the  Iro- 
quoian  sites  of  central  and  western 
New  York,  the  clay  pipe  is  rather 
common  and  is  a  prominent  feature 
in  the  coast  culture  of  New  York. 
It  is  more  abundant  perhaps  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  area,  but  this 
may  well  be  due  to  the  fact  that  data 
from  this  region  are  more  easily 
accessible.  The  triangular-stemmed 
"trumpet"  pipe  so  common  on  the 
Iroquoian  sites  is  unknown  in  this 
region. 

POTTERY  VESSELS. 

The  pottery  of  this  region  may  all 
be  considered  as  being  either  the 
native  Algonkian  in  type  or  showing 
Iroquoian  influence  with  a  third  and 
intermediate  variety.  Algonkian  ves- 
sels may  be  divided  into  the  following 
groups  according  to  shape: 

1.  Conical,  pointed  bottom,  slight- 
ly swollen  sides,  circumference 
largest     at    the    mouth,  —  the 
typical  Algonkian   pot  of  this 
area,  Fig.  a. 

2.  Like     number     1,     but     much 

rounder  and  broader,  Fig.  b. 

3.  Bottom  pointed,   sides  slightly 


32 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


swollen,  neck  slightly  constric- 
ted, Fig.  c. 

4.  Identical  with  number  2,  except 
that  just  below  the  beginning 
of  the  neck,  occur  small  raised 
lugs,  ears  or  handles.     This  is 
rare  from  this  area,  Fig.  d. 

5.  Rounded     bottom,     somewhat 

constricted  neck,  lip  sometimes 
flaring,  or  even  turning  down 
and  back,  Fig.  e. 

The  intermediate  types  are  as 
follows : 

6.  Rounded    bottom,     constricted 

neck,  narrow  raised  rim  or 
collar,  Fig.  f. 

7.  Like  number  6,  but  with  sides 
more    elongated    and    bottom 
more  oval  than  round,  heavier 
collar,  generally  notched  angle, 
with  or  without  a  series  of  small 
humps  or  projections  at  inter- 
vals, Fig.  g. 

The  Iroquoian  types  are  as  follows: 

8.  Mouth  rounded,   collar  or  rim 

heavy,  with  humps  or  peaks  at 
intervals,  angle  notched,  neck 
constricted  and  bottom  round- 
ed; can  stand  by  itself,  an 
unknown  feature  in  local  Al- 
gonkian  vessels,  Fig.  h. 

9.  Same  as  number  7,   but  with 
mouth  square,   and  humps  at 
every  angle.     Much   less  com- 
mon than  the  preceding,  Fig.  i. 

In  size,  the  vessels  range  from  small 
toy-like  pots  to  jars  of  very  large  capa- 
city. In  general  they  appear  to  have 
been  made  by  the  coil  process,  and  are 
tempered  with  pounded  stone  or  fine 
gravel,  mica  or  burned  or  pounded 
shell.  Sherds  showing  tempering  by 
fiber  or  some  other  substance  that  dis- 
appeared in  firing  are  found  rarely. 
When  vessels  were  cracked  or  broken, 


a  series  of  holes  was  bored  opposite 
each  other  on  either  side  of  the  break 
and  the  parts  laced  together,  render- 
ing the  vessel  capable  of  storing  dry 
objects,  at  least. 

Life  forms  are  exceedingly  rare  in 
local  ceramic  art.  From  Manhattan 
Island  and  Van  Cortlandt  Park,  there 
come  a  number  of  specimens  showing 
incised  human  (?)  faces.  This  is  not 
an  uncommon  form  on  Iroquoian  sites 
in  Central  and  Western  New  York. 
On  the  Bowman's  Brook  site  at  Mar- 
iner's Harbor,  Staten  Island,  frag- 
ments of  a  typically  Algonkian  pot 
were  obtained  which  bore  at  inter- 
vals, rude  raised  faces.  With  the 
sole  exception  of  a  rather  well-modeled 
clay  face,  apparently  broken  from  the 
bowl  of  a  pipe  found  at  Port  Wash- 
ington, Long  Island,  by  Mr.  M.  R. 
Harrington,  this  brief  statement  con- 
cludes the  list  of  pottery  life  forms 
reported  from  this  area,  although  others 
may  yet  be  found  here,  since  some  inter- 
esting objects  have  been  collected  in 
immediately  adjacent  territory. 

The  forms  of  decoration  consist  of 
stamping  with  a  stamp,  roulette,  or 
paddle,  and  incising.  Occasionally, 
but  very  rarely,  stucco  work  occurs. 
Under  stamping  we  can  enumerate  the 
following  processes  :- 

1.  Impression    with    the    rounded 
end  of  a  stick  (rare). 

2.  Impression  with  the  end  of  a 
quill,  or  hollow  reed,  leaving  a 
circular  depression  with  a  tiny 
lump  or    nipple   (rare)    in    the 
center. 

3.  Impression  with  a  section  of  a 
hollow  reed,  making  a  stamped 
circle  (rare). 

4.  Impression     with     finger     nail 

(doubtful,  but  perhaps  used  on 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


33 


5. 


6. 


7. 


some  sherds    from  Manhattan 
Island) . 

Impression    of   the    edge    of    a 
scallop  shell. 

Impression  with  a  carved  bone, 
antler,  or  wooden  stamp. 
Impression   of   a   cord-wrapped 
stick. 
Impression  with  roulette. 


finish  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the  pot 

by  imparting  an  appearance  of  pressure 

with  fabric  when  the  clay  was  wet. 

11.     Stucco.     Occasionally,     ridges 

of  clay  placed  on  the  rim  for 

ornament  appear  to  have  been 

added  after  the  shaping  of  the 

vessel. 

Ornamentation  is  usually  external, 


POTTERY  FORMS  OF  THE  COASTAL  ALGONKIN. 


Under  of  the  head  of  decoration  by 
incision  we  can  enumerate  the  follow- 
ing :- 

9.  Incised     decoration,     probably 
made  with  a  stick. 

10.  Incised     decoration,     possibly 
made  with  a  flint  object  (only 
one  specimen  at  hand). 

The  paddle  was  frequently  used  to 


and  vessels,  either  Algonkian  or  Iro- 
quoian,  are  rarely  ornamented  below 
the  rim,  although  occasionally  the 
designs  run  part  way  down  the  side 
in  the  case  of  the  Algonkian  forms. 
Where  decoration  has  been  applied  by 
one  of  the  stamping  processes,  and 
more  rarely  by  incision,  it  is  sometimes 
continued  over  the  lip  or  rim  for  an 


34 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


inch  or  less  on  the  inside.  This  only 
occurs  in  the  typical  Algonkian  forms, 
and  is  never  seen  when  incised  orna- 
mentation is  used.  The  rims  of  Iro- 
quoian  vessels  are  never  ornamented 
on  the  interior,  nor  is  stamping  so  fre- 
quently practised  on  vessels  of  this 
class.  The  intermediate  forms,  at 
least  the  first  of  the  two  mentioned,  are 
frequently  ornamented  on  the  inter- 
ior of  the  lip.  This  internal  decoration 
is  much  more  common  in  the  southern 


patterns  are  the  most  common,  but 
other  angular  forms  occur,  and  rows 
of  parallel  lines  encircling  the  vessel 
are  sometimes  to  be  found.  Stamping 
and  incision  as  decorative  processes 
never  seem  to  occur  on  the  same  vessel. 
Curvilinear  decoration  is  exceedingly 
rare,  and  not  enough  material  is  at 
hand  to  show  that  patterns  were  used, 
possibly  these  were  scrolls  of  some 
form.  On  account  of  the  lack  of  mate- 
rial, it  cannot  be  determined  whether  the 


TYPICAL  ALGONKIAN  POTTERY  PIPE  AND  FRAGMENT  OF  AN  EFFIGY  PIPE  FROM  PORT  WASHINGTON,  L.  I. 


portion  of  this  area  than  elsewhere  in 
the  vicinity. 

In  design,  we  must  of  course,  give 
up  all  thought  of  trying  to  obtain  sym- 
bolism, if  such  there  were,  for  there  are 
are  no  sources  now  left  upon  which  to 
base  our  assumptions.  Certain  con- 
ventional types  of  decoration  seem  to 
have  been  in  vogue,  usually  consisting 
in  rows  of  stamped  or  incised  parallel 
linesjand  much  more  rarely  of  dots 
regularly  arranged  in  the  same  manner. 
Zigzag,  chevron,  and  " herring  bone" 


designs  on  the  Algonkian  vessels  differ 
from  those  on  the  Iroquoian,  except  in 
a  very  general  and  unsatisfactory  way. 
The  angle  formed  where  the  heavy 
rim  or  collar  leaves  the  constricted 
neck  of  the  Iroquoian  vessel  is  almost 
invariably  notched,  and  as  such  collars 
and  angles  do  not  occur  on  vessels  of 
the  true  Algonkian  type,  this  feature 
is  necessarily  absent  from  them.  It 
is  noticeable  that  Iroquoian  vessels 
are  usually  decorated  with  incised 
designs,  rather  than  stamped  patterns. 


C    €> 


INCISED  DESIGNS  FROM  ALGONKIAN  VESSELS. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


35 


INCISED  DESIGNS  FROM  POTTERY  VESSELS. 


a,  &,  and  d,  designs  from  Iroquoian  vessels;  c  and  e,  design  from  an  Algonkian  vessel;  /,  design  from  a 
el  of  the  Iroquoian  type  from  a  Connecticut  rock-shelter,  introduced  here  for  comparison. 


36 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


Pottery  is  found  abundantly  on  the 
majority  of  the  sites  in  this  district; 
but,  while  very  much  more  common 
than  in  the  New  England  area,  it  does 
not  equal  in  abundance  that  from  the 
Iroquois  country.  It  is  rarely  found 
buried  in  graves  with  skeletons  as  in 
the  Iroquoian  area;  when  sometimes 
found  in  graves,  however,  it  is  usually 
at  some  distance  from  the  human  re- 
mains and  apparently  not  connected 
with  them.  Whole  or  nearly  whole 
vessels  are  exceedingly  rare  and  the 
number  of  those  found  up  to  date 
may  easily  be  counted  upon  the  fingers. 
Potsherds  taken  from  pits  or  shell- 
heaps,  where  they  have  not  been  ex- 
posed to  the  action  of  the  weather, 
are  often  as  thickly  covered  with  grease 
as  when  they  were  broken  and  cast 
aside. 

ARTICLES  OF  METAL. 

Beads.  Beads  of  native  metal,  con- 
sisting simply  of  pieces  of  hammered 
sheet  copper  rolled  into  small  tubes, 
have  been  found,  but  they  are  very 
rare.  Copper  salts,  but  no  objects, 
were  found  upon  the  bones,  especially 
on  those  of  the  head  and  neck  of  a 
child's  skeleton  at  Burial  Ridge,  Tot- 
tenville,  Staten  Island,  which  seemed 
to  predicate  the  use  of  copper  beads. 
A  great  many  beads  of  olivella  shell, 
some  of  them  discolored  by  copper 
salts,  were  found  about  the  neck  of  the 
skeleton.  A  single  celt  of  copper  is 
said  to  have  been  found  in  Westchester 
County,  probably  on  Croton  Neck, 
slightly  above  the  limit  of  the  territory 
treated  in  this  paper. '  A  large  number 


1  Native  copper  occurs  in  the  New  Jersey  trap 
ridges,  within  a  few  miles  of  New  York  City,  an 
important  source  in  Colonial  times  being  near 
Boundbrook  30  miles  from  the  lower  end  of  Man- 
hattan Island.  Bowlders  of  native  copper  occur 
in  the  glacial  drift. 


of  copper  beads  of  the  type  described, 
were  found  with  a  skeleton  on  Con- 
stable Hook,  Bayonne,  New  Jersey, 
and  are  now  in  the  hands  of  a  private 
collector  in  Brooklyn. 

ARTICLES  OF  SHELL. 

Wampum.  Objects  of  shell  are  not 
at  all  common,  and  notwithstanding 
the  coast  region  of  New  York  was  one 
of  the  best  known  localities  for  wam- 
pum manufacture  on  the  continent. 
Wampum  beads  are  almost  unknown 
from  local  sites.  With  the  exception 
of  completed  beads,  most  of  which  may 
have  been  taken  into  the  interior,  by 
the  Indians,  wampum  may  be  found 
in  all  stages  of  manufacture.  We  refer 
to  the  white  wampum,  for  traces  of 
the  ' 'black"  (blue)  wampum  made 
from  the  hard  clam  or  quahog  are  so 
far  not  reported.  The  process  of  man- 
ufacture may  be  shown  by  shells  with  the 
outer  whorls  broken  away  in  steps  until 
the  innermost  solid  column  is  reached, 
ground  and  polished  at  the  end,  and 
needing  only  cutting  off  into  sections 
and  perforations  to  make  the  finished 
white  wampum  bead.  These  do  not 
occur  on  all  sites,  though  they  have 
been  found  here  and  there  throughout 
the  region.  Ninety-six  conch  shells 
with  the  outer  whorls  broken  entirely 
away  were  found  in  a  grave  at  Burial 
Ridge,  Tottenville,  Staten  Island,  about 
the  head  and  neck  of  a  skeleton. 

Pendants.  Occasionally  oyster  and 
clam  shells,  found  unworked  save  for 
perforations  in  them,  may  have  been 
pendants  or  ornaments,  but  certainly 
have  little  aesthetic  value. 

Scrapers.  Clam  shells  seem  to 
have  been  used  as  scrapers  and  some 
are  occasionally  found  with  one  edge 
showing  the  effect  of  rubbing  and  wear- 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


37 


ing.  These  are  rare,  however.  Some 
may  have  been  pottery  smoothers. 
Clam  shells  have  been  reported  which 
contained  central  perforations  and 
were  identical  in  appearance  with  some 
shell  pottery  scrapers  and  smoothers 
collected  by  Mr.  M.  R.  Harrington 
among  the  Catawba.  Contemporary 
writers  mention  the  use  of  knives  made 
of  shell. 

Pottery  Tempering.  This  was  some- 
times done  with  calcined  and  pounded 
shells,  but  was  uncommon,  considering 
the  abundance  of  the  material  at  hand. 
Pounded  stone  or  gravel  seems  to  have 
been  more  favored. 

Pottery  Stamps.  The  corrugated 
edge  of  a  scallop  shell  was  frequently 
used  as  a  stamp  for  pottery,  as  may  be 
seen  by  examining  the  potsherds  from 
this  region. 

ARTICLES  OF  BONE  AND  ANTLER. 

Objects  of  bone  and  antler,  while 
perhaps  more  abundant  here  than  in 
New  England,  are  far  less  plentiful  in 
form  and  number  than  in  the  Iroquoian 
area.  Cut  bones  are  frequent  in  most 
shell  pits  and  heaps.  They  were  cut 
probably  with  a  flint  knife,  by  grooving 
the  bone  partly  through  on  all  sides, 
and  breaking. 

Bone  Awls.  These  utensils  are  the 
most  common  of  all  bone  articles  in 
this  region  and  are  found  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  area.  Some  are  mere- 
ly sharpened  slivers,  but  others  show 
a  considerable  degree  of  work,  and  are 
well  finished  and  polished.  They  are 
usually  made  of  deer  or  other  mammal 
bone,  but  sometimes  from  the  leg  bones 
of  birds. 

In  some  instances,  the  joint  of  the 
bone  is  left  for  a  handle,  but  this  is 
often  cut  off.  Grooved,  perforated  or 


decorated  bone  awls  are  extremely  rare 
in  this  region.  While  it  is  generally 
considered  that  these  bone  tools  were 
used  as  awls  in  sewing  leather,  as 
by  modern  shoemakers,  neverthe- 
less, they  may  have  served  as  forks  in 
removing  hot  morsels  from  the  pot  or 
for  a  number  of  other  purposes.  The 
latter  supposition  is  supported  by  the 
abundance  of  bone  awls  found  in  some 
shell  pits.  The  Eastern  Cree  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  region  use  a  similar  bone 
implement  as  the  catching  or  striking 
pin  in  the  cup-and-ball  game. 

Bone  Needles.  These  are  rare,  but 
found  in  most  localities.  They  are 
generally  made  of  the  curved  ribs  of 
mammals  and  are  six  or  eight  inches 
long,  or  even  longer.  They  are  gener- 
ally broken  across  the  eye,  which  is 
usually  midway  between  the  ends.  A 
few  with  the  perforation  at  one  end 
have  been  reported. 

Bone  Arrow  Points,  usually  hollow 
and  conical  in  shape,  have  been  found, 
especially  at  Tottenville,  Staten 
Island,  in  the  Burial  Ridge.  They 
are  rather  rare,  but  this  may  be  due 
to  the  fact  that  conditions  are  not 
suitable  for  their  preservation  in  most 
localities.  Others  are  flat  and  triang- 
ular in  shape. 

Harpoons.  No  actual  barbed  bone 
harpoons,  such  as  occur  in  the  Iroquois 
country  have  been  reported  from  this 
region;  although  the  writer  has  seen 
what  appeared  to  be  part  of  one  from 
Shinnecock  Hills,  Long  Island,  whence 
comes  a  harpoon  barb  of  bone,  found 
by  the  writer,  now  in  the  Museum 
collection  which  was  apparently  made 
to  tie  to  a  wooden  shaft.  While 
neither  of  these  forms  seems  to  occur 
within  this  region,  several  naturally 
barbed  spines  from  the  tail  of  the  sting- 


38 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


ray,  found  on  the  Bowman's  Brook 
site,  at  Mariner's  Harbor,  Staten 
Island,  may  have  been  used  as  har- 
poons or  fish  spears,  for  which  purpose 
they  were  admirably  suited  by  nature. 
Long,  narrow,  chipped  stone  arrow- 
heads are  generally  called  '  'fish  points  " 
but  they  do  not  seem  peculiarly  adapt- 
ed for  this  purpose  and  the  name  is 
probably  a  misnomer.  No  bone  fish 
hooks  are  reported  from  hereabouts, 
though  suggested  by  early  writers. 

Bone  Beads  and  Tubes.  While  so 
abundant  on  Iroquoian  sites,  tubes 
and  beads  made  of  hollow  bird  or  other 
animal  bones,  polished  and  cut  in  sec- 
tions, are  very  rare  here. 

Draw  Shaves,  or  Beaming  Tools, 
made  of  bone,  and  probably  used  for 
removing  the  hair  from  skins,  were 
made  by  splitting  the  bone  of  a  deer's 
leg,  leaving  a  sharp  blade  in  the  middle 
with  the  joints  on  either  end  as  han- 
dles. The  writer  has  seen  none  from 
this  immediate  region,  but  they  are 
reported  by  Mr.  M.  R.  Harrington. 
A  number  were  obtained  for  the  Mu- 
seum by  Mr.  Ernst  Volk  in  the  Lenape* 
sites  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  An 
implement,  evidently  made  of  the 
scapula  of  a  deer,  and  perhaps  used  as 
a  scraper,  was  found  in  a  grave  at  Bur- 
ial Ridge,  Tottenville,  Staten  Island, 
by  Mr.  George  H.  Pepper. 

Worked  Teeth.  Perforated  teeth  of 
the  bear,  wolf,  and  other  animals,  so 
abundant  on  Iroquoian  sites  never  seem 
to  be  found  here.  Beavers'  teeth  cut 
and  ground  to  an  edge,  occur,  and  may 
have  been  used  as  chisels,  or  primitive 
crooked  knives,  or  both,  as  they  were 
till  recently  by  some  of  the  eastern 
Canadian  Algonkin.  Other  cut  beaver 
teeth  may  have  served  as  dice  or  count- 
ers in  gaming. 


Turtle  Shell  Cups.  These  are  com- 
mon, and  consist  merely  of  the  bony 
carapace  of  the  box  turtle  (Terrapene 
Carolina),  scraped  and  cleaned  inside, 
the  ribs  being  cut  away  from  the  cov- 
ering to  finish  the  utensil  for  use. 

Antler  Implements.  Deer  antlers 
and  fragments  of  antler,  worked  and 
unworked,  occur  in  all  shell-heaps  and 
pits.  When  whole  antlers  are  found, 
they  usually  show  at  the  base  the 
marks  of  the  axe  or  other  implement 
used  to  detach  them  from  the  skull. 
Cut  antler  prongs,  prongs  broken  from 
the  main  shaft  and  others  partly  hol- 
lowed and  sharpened  show  the  process 
of  manufacture  of  antler  arrow  points. 
These  are  characteristic  of  this  area 
and  are  usually  conical  in  shape, 
hollowed  to  receive  the  shaft,  and  with 
one  or  more  barbs;  not  infrequently, 
however,  they  are  diamond-shaped  in 
cross-section.  The  shaft  fitted  into 
the  hollow  socket  as  in  the  case  of  the 
conical  bone  arrow  points.  A  large 
number  were  found  in  and  among  the 
bones  of  human  skeletons  in  a  grave 
at  the  Burial  Ridge,  Tottenville, 
Staten  Island. 

Cylinders,  neatly  cut  and  worked  all 
over,  or  cylindrical  tines  made  of  deer 
antler  only  cut  and  rounded  at  the 
ends,  are  not  infrequent,  and  were 
probably  used  as  flaking  tools  in  mak- 
ing and  finishing  arrow  points  by  pres- 
sure. One  broken  cylinder  or  pin, 
found  on  the  Bowman's  Brook  site, 
Mariner's  Harbor,  Staten  Island,  had 
a  rounded,  neatly  carved  head.  This 
specimen,  however,  seems  to  be  unique. 

Pottery  stamps,  perhaps  of  antler  or 
bone,  but  which  may  be  of  wood,  seem 
to  have  been  used,  judging  by  the  dec- 
orations of  many  pottery  sherds.  A 
pottery  stamp,  carved  from  antler,  was 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


39 


found  slightly  east  of  this  region,  at 
Dosoris,  Glen  Cove,  Long  Island,  by 
Mr.  M.  R.  Harrington,  and  is  now  in 
the  Museum  collection. 

TRADE  ARTICLES. 

In  spite  of  the  frequent  mention  by 
old  writers  of  barter  of  European  for 
Indian  goods,  the  amount  of  trade 


porcelain,  a  few  glass  beads,  Venetian 
and  plain,  and  some  old  pipes,  notably 
those  stamped  "R.  Tippet"  on  the 
bowl.  All  these  articles  are  very  rare 
here,  and  for  this  no  adequate  expla- 
nation can  be  given. 

RESUME. 
This    area    was    inhabited    during 


LOCATION  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  COASTAL  ALGONKIN  AND  THEIR  NEIGHBORS. 


material  found  is  small  indeed.  While 
it  is  abundant  in  the  Iroquoian  area, 
all  that  has  ever  been  found  here  con- 
sists of  a  few  round-socketed  iron  tom- 
ahawks, iron  hoes,  brass  or  copper 
arrow  points  of  various  styles,  a  little 


historic  times  by  the  following  tribes:1 
A.     The  Lenni  Lenape,  or  Delaware, 


1  On  the  map  above,  these  tribes  are  shown 
together  with  the  Long  Island  and  other  neighbor- 
ing tribes  as  indicated  by  Beauchamp  in  the  map 
accompanying  his  "Aboriginal  Occupation  of  New 
York,"  New  York  State  Museum,  Bulletin  32, 
Albany,  1900. 


40 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


ranging  from  the  Raritan  River,  in- 
cluding Staten  Island,  to  Saugerties 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Hudson. 

Raritan  or  Assanhican. 

Hackensack. 

Tappan. 

Aquakanonk. 

Haverstraw. 

Waranawankong. 

B.  The    Wappinger    Confederacy 
ranging  along  the  east  bank  of  the 
Hudson,     eastward    to    Connecticut, 
from  Manhattan  Island. 

Rechgawawank  or  Manhattan. 

Siwanoy. 

Weckquaskeck. 

Wappinger. 

C.  Montauk  or  Matouwack  Con- 
federacy. 

Canarsie. 

These  tribes  were  surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  neighbors  of  the  same 
stock,  who  differed  somewhat  in  their 
language  and  culture.  On  the  south 
and  west,  lay  the  Lenni  Lenape,  or 
Delaware  proper;  on  the  north,  the 
Manhattan,  and  on  the  east  the 
New  England  tribes.  Almost  without 
exception,  these  natives  were  displaced 
early  in  the  history  of  this  country, 
and  have  been  long  since  expatriated 
or  exterminated.  A  very  few  mixed 
bloods  may  yet  be  found  on  Staten 
Island,  Long  Island,  and  in  West- 
chester  County,  but  their  percentage 
of  Indian  blood  is  extremely  low. 

The  remains  of  aboriginal  life  now 
to  be  found,  consist  of  shell-heaps, 
occurring  at  every  convenient  point 
along  the  coast,  on  the  rivers,  and, 
more  rarely,  inland;  shell,  refuse,  and 
fire  pits;  camp,  village  and  burial 
sites ;  and  rock  and  cave  shelters.  With 
one  prominent  exception,1  few  or  no 

1  Burial  Ridge,  Tottciu  illc.  Statrn  Island. 


relics  have  been  found  in  graves.  The 
typical  interment  was  of  the  flexed 
variety,  but  bone  burials  are  not  in- 
frequent. 

Dog  skeletons  complete  and  intact, 
bearing  the  appearance  of  having 
been  laid  out,  are  sometimes  found 
buried  in  separate  graves.  Some 
writers  have  supposed  that'  these  indi- 
vidual dog  burials  are  the  remains  of 
"white  dog  feasts"  or  kindred  prac- 
tices, because  the  Iroquois  even  up  to 
the  present  day  hold  such  ceremonies. 
The  white  dog  is  entirely  cremated  by 
the  Iroquois,  and  so  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  find  out,  there  is  no  record 
of  such  occurrences  among  the  Coastal 
Algonkin;  hence,  there  seems  no  reason 
to  attribute  this  custom  to  them  since 
other  Iroquois  traits  were  so  infre- 
quent. It  seems  more  probable  that 
such  burials  are  simply  those  of  pet 
animals,  interred  as  we  today  honor  a 
faithful  dog. 

Some  of  these  dog  burials  may  have 
been  sacrifices  made  to  the  Under- 
neath Powers,  such  as  horned  snakes, 
just  as  the  Western  Indians  do  today. 

In  Waessenaer 's  Historic  Von  Europe, 
we  read  of  the  Mahikan  who  lived  on 

the  Upper  Hudson. 

It  appears  that  the  Sickanamers  before- 
mentioned,  make  a  sort  of  sacrifice.  They 
have  a  hole  in  a  hill  in  which  they  place  a  ket- 
tle full  of  all  sorts  of  articles  that  they  have, 
either  by  them,  or  procured.  When  there  is 
a  great  quantity  collected  a  snake  comes  in, 
then  they  all  depart,  and  the  Manittou, 
that  is  the  Devil,  comes  in  the  night  and 
takes  the  kettle  away,  according  to  the  state- 
ment of  the  Koutsinacka,  or  Devil  Hunter, 
who  presides  over  the  ceremony.1 

****** 

Our  Indians  may  well  have  sacrificed 
dogs  and  buried  them  for  these  mythi- 
cal snake  monsters. 

Occasionally,  the  skeletons  of  dogs 
and  rarely  of  other  animals  have  I  MM  MI 

1  Documentary  History  of  New  York,  III,2s-'i 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


41 


found  in  graves  associated  with  human 
bones.  The  finding  of  arrow-heads 
among  the  ribs  of  some  of  these,  and 
other  circumstances,  seem  to  point  to  a 
practice  of  killing  a  favorite  animal  on 
the  death  of  its  owner  to  accompany 
or  protect  the  spirit  of  its  master  on 
the  journey  to  the  hereafter. 

From  their  appearance  and  position, 
many  graves  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  dead  may  sometimes  have  been 
buried  under  the  lodge,  especially  in 
time  of  winter,  when  the  ground  out- 
side was  frozen  too  hard  to  permit 
grave  digging.  Others  under  the  same 
circumstances  seem  to  have  been 
buried  in  refuse  pits.  The  remains 
further  indicate  that  "f easts  of  the 
dead,"  were  also  held  at  the  time  of 
the  interment,  judging  by  the  quantity 
of  oyster  shells  and  animal  bones  in 
and  near  the  graves.  Some  graves 
have  rows  or  layers  of  oyster  shells, 
with  the  sharp  cutting  edge  upward, 
placed  above  the  bodies  as  if  to  pre- 
vent wild  animals  from  disinterring 
and  devouring  the  dead. 

An  interesting  fact,  brought  to  light 
by  the  rock-shelter  work  of  Messrs. 
Schrabisch  and  Harrington  in  their 
explorations  in  New  Jersey  and  West- 
chester  County,  New  York,  is  that 
in  the  lowest  and  oldest  refuse  layers  of 
some  of  these  shelters  pottery  does  not 
occur.  It  would  be  ill  advised  to  infer 
from  this  that  the  earliest  occupants 
were  peoples  of  another  culture  from 
the  surrounding  village  dwellers,  as  the 
other  artifacts  found  are  quite  similar 
to  the  implements  of  the  latter.  Many 
reasons  for  this  lack  of  pottery,  such 
as  the  more  easy  transportation  of 
vessels  of  bark  or  wood  through  the 
mountains  and  hills,  suggest  them- 
selves, though  they  are  more  or  less 


nullified  by  the  presence  of  pottery  in 
the  upper  layers.  The  upper  layer, 
however,  may  have  been  made  during 
the  period  when  the  natives  were 
being  displaced  by  Europeans  and 
at  the  same  time  subjected  to  Iro- 
quoian  raids,  when  the  villages 
would  naturally  be  abandoned  from 
time  to  time,  for  refuge  among  the 
cliffs  and  caves  of  the  mountain  fast- 
nesses. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  rock 
and  cave  shelters  are  remains  of  an 
older  occupation  by  people  with  or 
without  the  same  culture  as  the  later 
known  savages.  The  nature  of  the 
finds  does  not  support  this  view,  for 
the  specimens  obtained  are  often  of  as 
good  workmanship  as  the  best  to  be 
found  in  the  villages  and  cemeteries 
of  the  latter,  while  pottery,  on  the 
other  hand,  occurs  on  the  oldest  known 
Algonkian  sites.  It  seems  most  prob- 
able to  the  writer  that,  like  the  shell- 
heaps,  the  rock  and  cave  shelters  form 
but  a  component  part,  or  phase,  of  the 
local  culture,  perhaps  a  little  special- 
ized from  usage  and  environment,  but 
contemporary  with  the  villages,  shell- 
heaps,  and  cemeteries  of  the  lowlands. 

Mounds  and  earthworks  do  not 
occur  in  the  region  under  consider- 
ation, nor  does  it  appear  that  most  of 
of  the  Indian  villages  here  were  forti- 
fied, unless  they  were  slightly  stock- 
aded. A  number  of  instances  of  this 
are  known  historically,  however,  and 
a  few  earthworks  occur  just  beyond 
this  area.1 

The  remains  found  do  not  bear  any 
appearance  of  very  great  geological 
antiquity.  In  a  few  instances,  rock- 
shelters,  shell-heaps,  and  village  sites 

1  An  earthwork  at  Croton  Point  on  the  Hudson 
has  been  excavated  by  Mr.  M.  R.  Harrington  for 
the  American  Museum. 


42 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


seem  to  possess  a  relative  antiquity; 
but  the  oldest  known  remains,  in  every 
case,  may  be  placed  as  Algonkian  with 
considerable  certainty.  No  paleoliths 
have  been  reported,  and  it  would  seem 
from  the  comparative  lack  of  antiquity 
of  the  remains  that  the  natives  could 
not  have  lived  in  this  region  for  many 
centuries  before  the  advent  of  the 
whites.  The  accounts  of  contempo- 
rary writers  prove  conclusively  that 
these  archaeological  remains,  if  not 
those  left  by  Indians  found  here  by  the 
early  Dutch  and  English  settlers,  must 
have  been  from  people  of  very  similar 
culture.  In  culture,  the  local  Indians 
were  not  as  high  as  the  Iroquois,  nor 
perhaps  as  the  Lenape  or  Delaware 
proper  from  whom  they  sprang;  but 
they  compare  very  favorably  with  the 
New  England  tribes.  Absence  and 
scarcity  of  certain  artifacts  such  as 
steatite  vessels,  the  long  stone  pestle, 
the  gouge,  adze,  and  plummet,  and  the 


abundance  and  character  of  bone  and 
pottery  articles  show  them  to  have 
been  intermediate  in  character  be- 
tween the  Lenape  on  the  south  and 
west,  and  the  New  England  tribes  on 
the  east  and  north;  and  consultations 
of  the  old  European  contemporaries 
show  that  this  was  the  case  linguistic- 
ally as  well  as  culturally.  Examination 
of  the  remains  also  shows  that  the 
influence  of  the  Lenape  on  the  west, 
and  of  the  New  England  peoples  on 
the  east,  was  most  strongly  felt  near 
their  respective  borders.  Iroquoian 
influence  was  strong,  as  evinced  by  the 
pottery,  and  there  is  also  documentary 
evidence  to  this  effect.  Finally,  as  is 
frequent  throughout  most  of  eastern 
North  America,  the  archaeological 
remains  may  be  definitely  placed  as 
belonging  to  the  native  Indian  tribes 
who  held  the  country  at  the  time  of  its 
discovery  or  to  their  immediate  ances- 
tors. 


LOCATION  OF  ARCHEOLOGICAL  REMAINS  ON  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.' 


THE  first  field-work  done  on  Man- 
hattan Island  is  of  very  recent 
date.  Doubtless  many  articles 
of  Indian  manufacture  and  evidences 
of  Indian  occupation  were  found 
as  the  city  grew  up  from  its 
first  settlement  at  Fort  Amsterdam, 
but  of  these  specimens  we  have 
very  few  records.  An  arrow  point 
found  in  the  plaster  in  the  wall  of 
a  Colonial  house  was,  without  doubt, 
in  the  hands  of  some  member  of  the 
Kortrecht  family;  and  Indian  pottery 
has  been  found  in  a  hut  occupied  by 
Hessian  soldiers  during  the  War  of 
Independence.  The  first  specimens 
to  have  been  preserved,  to  the  know- 
ledge of  those  now  interested  in  the 


subject,  were  found  in  1885,  and  con- 
sisted of  Indian  arrow  points  dis- 
covered in  Harlem  during  excavation 
for  a  cellar  on  Avenue  A,  between!20th 
and  121st  Streets.  Some  of  these  are 
spoken  of  by  James  Riker2  as  being  in 
the  author's  cabinet.  Riker  also 
speaks  of  shell-heaps  near  here.3  The 
next  specimens  preserved  were  found 
at  Kingsbridge  Road  (now  Broadway) 
and  220th  Street  in  1886,  and  are  in 
the  John  Neafie  collection  at  the  Mu- 
seum. These  consist  of  an  arrow  point 
and  a  few  bits  of  pottery.  The  next 
work  was  begun  in  1889  by  Mr.  W.  L. 


1  By  James  K.  Finch,  revised  by  Leslie  Spier. 

2  History  of  Harlem  (1881),  footnote,  p.  137. 

3  Ibid,  p.  3««i. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


43 


Calver  of  this  city,  and  has  led  to  the 
discovery  of  much  valuable  material 
which  has  been  preserved.1 

The  following  account  of  the  work 
is  taken  mainly  from  Mr.  Calver 's 
note-book : — 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1889, 
while  exploring  the  heights  of  Bloom- 
ingdale  (now  called  Cathedral  Heights) 
for  any  relics  that  might  have  remained 
from  the  Battle  of  Harlem,  Mr. 
Calver  discovered  one  arrow  point  at 
118th  Street,  east  of  Ninth  Avenue, 
and  immediately  afterwards  a  circular 
hammerstone.  On  a  later  trip  to  the 
same  locality,  he  found  a  small  grooved 
axe  or  tomahawk.  In  February,  1890, 
while  hunting  for  Revolutionary  rel- 
ics in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Washington, 
he  made  a  trip  to  the  northern  part  of 
the  island  in  search  of  British  regimen- 
tal buttons,  many  of  which  were  said 
to  have  been  found  in  that  vicinity. 
There  he  met  an  old  acquaintance,  Mr. 
John  Pearce,  a  policeman  then  on 
duty  there,  by  whom  he  was  intro- 
duced to  Mr.  James  McGuey,  a  youth 
residing  in  the  vicinity  of  198th  Street 
and  Kingsbridge  Road  and,  while 
crossing  the  orchard  at  Academy  Street 
and  Seaman  Avenue,  Mr.  Calver  saw 
that  the  ground  was  thickly  strewn 
with  shells  which  afterwards  proved 
to  be  of  Indian  origin. 

The  first  Sunday  in  March,  Messrs. 
Calver  and  McGuey  explored  this 
part  of  the  Island  for  Indian 
remains.  At  the  junction  of 


1  In  the  Spring  of  1890  Mr.  Edward  Hagaman 
Hall  began  his  investigations  and  at  about  the 
same  time  Mr.  Reginald  Pelh am  Bolton  entered  the 
field  of  local  research.  In  many  instances  these 
gentlemen  and  Mr.  W.  L.  Calver  collaborated  with 
valuable  results.  In  the  preservation  of  the  traces 
of  Indian  occupation  of  Manhattan  Island  the 
American  Scenic  and  Historic  Preservation  Society 
(formed  in  1895  under  the  presidency  of  the  late 
Hon.  Andrew  H.  Green,  but  now  under  that  of  Dr. 
George  Frederick  Kunz)  has  done  much  pioneer 
work. 


Academy  Street  and  Prescott  Avenue, 
they  found  an  Indian  potsherd  the 
importance  of  which  Mr.  McGuey 
seemed  to  realize,  for,  a  week  later, 
Mr.  Calver  met  him  again  and  was 
presented  by  him  with  a  number  of 
fragments  of  Indian  ware.  He  assured 
Mr.  Calver  that  he  had  found  it  by 
digging  in  an  Indian  graveyard.  The 
two  men  dug  again  at  this  place,  and 
found  more  pottery.  They  then  went 
to  Cold  Spring,  a  point  on  the  extreme 
northern  end  of  the  Island,  and  in  a 
shell-heap  there  they  found  more 
Indian  work.  Mr.  Alexander  C. 
Chenoweth  an  engineer,  then  on  the 
Croton  Aqueducts,  hearing  of  these 
discoveries,  obtained  a  permit  from 
the  property  owners  and  began  to  ex- 
plore "The  Knoll,"  at  Dyckman 
Street  and  Broadway,  for  Indian  re- 
mains. After  having  finished  here, 
he  went  to  Cold  Spring  and  made  some 
further  discoveries.  All  his  specimens 
were  purchased  in  1894  by  the  Mu- 
seum, and  some  of  them  are  now  on 
exhibition. 

Since  this  time,  several  interesting 
relics  have  been  found  and,  as  the 
work  of  grading  streets  and  other  ex- 
cavation at  this  part  of  the  Island  are 
carried  on,  more  relics  will  probably 
come  to  light. 

The  only  Indian  remains  left  on  the 
Island  so  far  as  known  to  the  writerr 
are  situated  at  the  extreme  northern 
end  at  Inwood  and  Cold  Spring. 
They  consist  of  the  so-called  shell- 
heaps  or  refuse  piles  from  Indian 
camps,  and  three  rock-shelters  at 
Cold  Spring.  But  we  have  evidence 
to  show  that  this  was  not  the  only 
part  of  the  Island  occupied  by  the 
Indians.  Mrs.  Lamb1  says  that  the 

i  History  of  New  York  City,  p.  36. 


44 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


Dutch  found  a  large  shell-heap  on  the 
west  shore  of  Fresh  Water  pond,  a 
small  pond,  mostly  swamp,  which  was 
bounded  by  the  present  Bowery,  Elm, 
Canal  and  Pearl  Streets,  and  which 
they  named  from  this  circumstance 
Kalch-Hook.  In  course  of  time,  this 
was  abbreviated  to  Kalch  or  Collect 
and  was  applied  to  the  pond  itself.1 
This  shell-heap  must  have  been  the 
accumulation  of  quite  a  village,  for 
Mrs.  Jno.  K.  Van  Rensselaer2  speaks 
of  a  castle  called  Catiemuts  overlook- 
ing a  small  pond  near  Canal  Street, 
and  says  that  the  neighborhood  was 
called  Shell  Point.  Hemstreet  refers 
to  the  same  castle  as  being  on  a 
hill  "close  by  the  present  Chatham 
Square,"  and  says  that  it  had  once 
been  an  "Indian  lookout."3  Exca- 
vations at  Pearl  Street  are  said  to 
to  have  reached  old  shell  banks. 
"The  Memorial  History  of  New 
York"4  says  that  a  hill  near  Chatham 
Square  was  called  Warpoes,  which 
meant  literally  a  "small  hill."5 
According  to  the  same  authority, 
"Corlear's  Hoeck  was  called  Naig- 
ianac,  literally,  'sandlands.'  It  may, 
however,  have  been  the  name  of  the 
Indian  village  which  stood  there,  and 
was  in  temporary  occupation."  This 
is  the  only  reference  we  have  to  this 
village,  but  there  are  references  to 
another  on  the  lower  end  of  the  Island. 
Janvier'  says  that  there  was  an  Indian 
settlement  as  late  as  1661  at  Sap- 


1  Mr.  Edward  Hagaman  Hall,  however,  derives 
the  name  from  "Kolk"  or  "Kolch"  a  word  still  in 
use  in  Holland  and  applied  to  portions  of  a  canal 
or  inclosure  of  water.— Editor. 

*  Goede-Vrouw  of  Manahata,  p.  39. 

*  Hemstreet,  Nooks  and  Corners  of  Old  New 
York,  p.   Mi. 

«  Bulletin,  N.  Y.,  State  Museum,  Vol.  7,  No.  32, 
p.  107,  Feb.,  1900. 

6  James  G.  Wilson,  op.  cit.,  p.  52. 

*  Evolution  of  New  York. 


pokanican  near  the  present  Ganse- 
voort  Market.  According  to  Judge 
Benson, l  Sappokanican  ('  'tobacco 
field")2  was  the  Indian  name  for  the 
point  afterwards  known  as  Greenwich. 
"In  the  Dutch  records  references  are 
made  to  the  Indian  village  of  Sap- 
pokanican; and  this  name  *  *was 
applied  for  more  than  a  century  to  the 
region  which  came  to  be  known  as 
Greenwich  in  the  later,  English,  times. 
The  Indian  village  probably  was  near 
the  site  of  the  present  Gansevoort 
Market;  but  the  name  seems  to  have 
been  applied  to  the  whole  region  lying 
between  the  North  River  and  the 
stream  called  the  Manetta  Water  or 
Bestavaar's  Kill."3  Benton  says  that 
the  name  of  the  village  was  Lapini- 
can.4  Going  back  to  the  old  Dutch 
records  might  lead  to  finding  the  actual 
names  and  other  data  regarding  these 
places. 

Most  of  the  specimens  found  on 
Manhattan  Island,  as  already  stated, 
come  from  the  northern  part.  We 
have  a  few  from  the  central  portion, 
however.  There  are  the  arrow-heads 
spoken  of  by  Riker,  and  in  the  Webster 
Free  Library  there  is  a  fine  specimen 
of  a  grooved  stone  axe  found  at  77th 
Street  and  Avenue  B.  Mr.  Calver  has 
found  an  arrow-head  at  81st  Street  and 
Hudson  River  and  specimens  from  the 
site  of  Columbia  College  have  been 
recorded. 

Doubtless  the  northern  part  of  the 
Island  was  inhabited  for  the  longer 
period;  but  it  is  probable  that  all 
along  the  shore,  wherever  one  of  the 
many  springs  or  small  brooks,  shown 

'  N.  Y.  Historical  Society  Collections,  S.  II, 
Vol.  II,  Pt.  I,  p.  84,  1848. 

1  All  Hilse  translations  are  doubtful. 

»  Thos.  A.  Janvier,  In  Old  New  York,  pp.  85-86. 

«  New  York,  p.  26. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


45 


on  old  maps,  emptied  into  the  Hudson 
or  East  River,  there  were  small, 
temporary  Indian  camps.  It  is  likely 
that  these  camps  were  used  only  in 
summer,  while  the  primitive  occupant 
of  Manhattan  retreated  to  the  more 
protected  part  of  the  Island,  as  at 
Inwood  and  Cold  Spring,  during  the 
winter.  Or  it  may  be  possible  that, 
as  Ruttenber1  states,  the  villages  on 
Manhattan  Island  were  only  occupied 
when  the  Indians  were  on  hunting  and 
fishing  excursions,  while  their  per- 
manent villages  were  on  the  mainland. 
Bolton,2  however,  says  their  principal 
settlement  was  on  Manhattan  Island. 

Fort  Washington  Point.  There  is  a 
small  deposit  of  shells  on  the  southern 
edge  of  the  point,  in  which  the  writer 
found  some  small  pieces  of  pottery  and 
a  few  flint  chips,  thus  proving  its 
Indian  origin.  This  was  probably  a 
summer  camp,  as  it  was  too  exposed 
for  winter  use. 

Zerrenner's  Farm.  A  favorable  slop- 
ing field  at  194th  Street  and  Broadway 
now  used  for  truck  farming,  was 
utilized  as  a  camp  site.  Camp  debris 
of  varied  character  has  been  ploughed 
up  here.  Perhaps  the  overhanging 
rocks  below  Ft.  Washington,  between 
194th  and  198th  Streets  on  Bennett 
Avenue  afforded  the  Indians  some 
shelter  in  winter. 

Inwood  Station  Site.  At  the  foot  of 
Dyckman  Street  and  Hudson  River, 
there  existed  a  large  deposit  of  shells, 
most  of  which  were  removed,  when  the 
rocks  on  which  they  lay  were  blasted 
away  for  grading  the  street.  A  few 
arrow  points  and  bits  of  pottery,  as 
well  as  several  Revolutionary  objects 

1  Indian  Tribes  of  Hudson's  River,  p.  78. 

2  History  of  Westchester  County,  p.  25. 


were  found  here.  There  are  photo- 
graphs of  this  deposit  in  the  Museum. 
Seaman  Avenue  Site.  This  site, 
between  Academy  and  Hawthorne 
Streets,  running  through  from  Seaman 
Avenue  to  Cooper  Street,  is  the  most 
extensive  village  site  from  which 
remains  have  been  collected.  It  was  a 
British  camp  site  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  a  number  of  buttons,  gun- 
flints  and  bullets  have  been  found  there 
as  well  as  numerous  Indian  remains. 
It  seems  to  have  been  the  workshop  for 
a  red  jasper-like  stone  of  which  numer- 
ous chips  but  no  finished  implements 
have  been  found.  The  shells  at  this 
point  were  first  noticed  by  Mr.  Calver 
in  1890.  They  may  not  all  be  of 
Indian  origin,  as  some  may  be  due  to 
Revolutionary  soldiers. 

Harlem  River  Deposit.  Mr.  Calver 
says,  '  'Extending  from  209th  Street  to 
211th  Street  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
Harlem  River  and  almost  on  a  line 
with  Ninth  Avenue  was  another  large 
deposit  of  oyster  shells  lying  just 
beneath  the  top  soil  of  the  field.  These 
shells  had  nearly  all  been  disturbed  by 
the  plow  and  are  interesting  only  for 
their  color,  which  was  red.  Pieces  of 
horn  of  deer  and  split  bones  of  the  same 
animal  were  common  among  the  shells ; 
but,  in  spite  of  the  apparent  antiquity 
of  the  deposit,  there  were,  even  in  the 
lowest  strata  of  it,  some  small  frag- 
ments of  glass  which  proved  that  either 
the  whole  mass  had  been  disturbed  or 
else  the  shells  had  been  left  during  the 
historic  period.  There  are  several 
stone  sinkers  and  hammerstones  from 
this  spot  in  Mr.  Calver 's  collection  and 
at  the  Museum. 

I  sham  Park  Site.  On  the  knolls 
along  the  south  side  of  Isham  Park, 
and  particularly  in  Isham 's  Garden, 


46 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


about  on  the  line  of  Isham  Street  and 
Seaman  Avenue,  the  soil  is  white  with 
small  fragments  of  shells.  A  number 
of  arrow  points,  flint  chips,  hammer- 
stones,  sinkers,  and  potsherds  have 
been  found  here.  On  the  knolls  to 
the  south  of  this  garden,  an  Indian  bur- 
ial, shell  pockets  with  small  deposits 
of  pottery,  etc.,  and  several  dog  bur- 
ials, have  been  found.  There  are  two 
small  shell-heaps,  containing  chips 
and  potsherds,  in  the  Park  on  the 
bank  of  the  Ship  Canal,  and  several 
shell  pockets  were  disturbed  in  exca- 
vating 218th  Street  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Park. 

Cold  Spring.  Cold  Spring  is  sit- 
uated at  the  extreme  northern  end  of 
Manhattan  Island  on  the  southern 
shore  of  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek.  The 
Indian  remains  consist  of  three  rock- 
shelters  and  three  refuse  heaps.  The 
rockshelter  is  a  formation  where  the 
overhanging  rocks  form  a  small  cave 
or  shelter  which  the  Indians  used  as 
a  dwelling  place.  All  their  rubbish, 
such  as  oyster  shells,  broken  pottery, 
and  broken  arrow-heads,  were  dumped 
near  by,  forming  the  so-called  shell- 
heaps.  Messrs.  Calver  and  McGuey 
explored  the  shell-heaps;  but  Mr. 
Chenoweth  was  the  first  to  suspect  the 
existence  of  the  shelters.  There  is 
only  one  which  is  likely  to  have  been 
used  as  a  dwelling  place,  the  others 
being  places  where  food  was  stored  or 
shelters  for  fires  used  in  cooking. 
These  shelters  face  east,  and  are  at 
the  foot  of  Inwood  Hill  (formerly 
called  Cock  Hill)  which  forms  the 
most  northern  part  of  Manhattan 
Island.  The  largest  one  was  formed 
by  several  of  the  rocks  breaking  off 
the  cliffs  above  and  falling  in  such  a 
manner  that,  by  digging  out  some  of 


the  earth  from  beneath  them,  the 
Indians  could  make  a  small  shelter. 
Probably  it  was  occupied  by  one  fam- 
ily, while  the  others  lived  in  bark 
wigwams  near  by.1  Another  of  the 
shelters  is  simply  an  excavation  under 
the  end  of  a  huge  fragment  which 
also  dropped  from  the  cliffs  above, 
and  the  third  is  a  large  crevice  in 
the  foot  of  these  cliffs.  When  Mr. 
Chenoweth  first  explored  them,  all 
these  shelters  were  completely  filled 
with  earth  which  had  gradually  worked 
its  way  in  since  their  occupation,  and 
much  credit  is  due  him  for  suspect- 
ing their  presence.  In  them  he  found 
fragments  of  pottery  and  stone  imple- 
ments, together  with  the  bones  of 
turkey  and  deer.  The  largest  of 
the  refuse  heaps  is  situated  on  a 
rise  directly  in  front  of  these  shel- 
ters. It  consists  of  a  layer  of 
shells,  in  places  one  foot  thick,  found 
under  a  layer  of  fine  loam,  a  black 
earth  which  has  been  deposited  since 
the  shells  were  scattered  over  the  orig- 
inal sandy  yellow  soil.  The  sheltered 
position  of  this  place  made  it  an  es- 
pecially desirable  camp  site.  The 
hills  to  the  south  and  west  formed  a 
protection  to  the  camp  from  winds, 
and  by  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek  access 
could  be  had  to  either  Hudson  or  East 
River;  while  the  Cold  Spring,  from 
which  the  place  takes  its  name,  fur- 
nished an  abundant  supply  of  fresh 
water. 

Harlem  Ship  Canal.  Formerly  at 
220th  Street  and  Kingsbridge  Road 
was  a  large  deposit  of  shells  on  the 
westerly  side  of  the  road.  This  was 
destroyed  when  the  ship  canal  was  put 
through.  As  with  the  Inwood  Station 


'    Memorial  History  of  New  York,  Vol.  I,  p.  33, 
for  pirtmv  of  houses,  and  p.  30  for  description. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


47 


site,  no  systematic  examination  of 
this  place  was  ever  made.  Mr.  John 
Neafie  found  some  potsherds  here  in 
1886,  Mr.  Chenoweth  also  has  some 
potsherds  from  here.1  Mr.  Calver 
says  that  this  was  a  large  deposit,  and 
that  the  peculiar  thing  about  it  was 
that  the  shells  were  so  wedged  and 
packed  together  that  a  pick  would 
hardly  penetrate  them.  They  lay 
on  the  bare  rock  surface  in  cracks  in 
the  rock;  a  condition  common  to  this 
neighborhood. 

Shell  Pockets  at  211th  Street.  In 
March,  1903,  there  was  considerable 
excitement  over  the  reported  discov- 
ery of  an  Indian  graveyard  at  211th 
Street.2  The  graveyard  proved  to  have 
been  that  of  some  slaves,  and  was 
situated  on  the  western  end  of  the  rise 
between  210th  and  211th  Streets,  on 
the  eastern  end  of  which  is  the  old 
Neagle  Burying  Ground.  This  dis- 
covery was  interesting  because  under 
the  negro  graves  several  shell  pockets 
of  undoubted  Indian  origin  came  to 
light.  The  workmen,  in  grading 
Tenth  Avenue,  cut  into  this  hill  to 
obtain  material  for  filling,  and  uncov- 
ered the  graves  and  pockets.  It  seems 
almost  certain  that  the  deposits  were 
made  some  time  ago;  then  the  wind 
blew  the  sand  over  the  deposits  to  a 
depth  of  four  or  five  feet,  and  negroes 
later  used  this  place  as  a  burial  ground. 
In  support  of  this  theory  is  the  fact 
that  the  pockets  were  four  or  five  feet 
under  the  surface,  that  the  soil  above 
showed  no  signs  of  having  been  dis- 
turbed, and  that  this  rise  is  put  down 
on  the  Government  maps  of  this  sec- 
tion as  a  sand  dune.3  During  the 


1  John   Neafie  collection,  20-2558;  Chenoweth, 
20-3498. 

2  Evening  Telegram,  March  14,  1903. 

3  New  York  Geologic  Folio. 


summer  of  1904,  Mr.  Calver  with 
Messrs.  Hall  and  Bolton  uncovered 
nine  or  more  pockets  to  the  southwest 
of  the  graveyard.1  These  pockets 
all  seem  to  have  been  of  the  same  pe- 
riod as  the  others,  and  all  appear  to 
have  been  on  the  original  ground  sur- 
face, although  those  farther  up  the 
hill  were  some  four  feet  under  the 
present  surface.  In  one  of  these 
pockets,  was  found  the  complete  skele- 
ton of  a  dog2  in  another,  a  turtle  shell; 
two  others  contained  complete  snake 
skeletons;  while  a  fifth  held  the  frag- 
ments of  a  small  pottery  vessel.  The 
pockets  were  small,  being  about  three 
feet  in  diameter  and  of  equal  depth, 
showing  no  signs  of  having  first  been 
used  as  fireplaces  and  then  filled  up, 
though  charcoal  was  scattered  among 
the  shells.  Almost  all  the  relics  from 
Van  Cortlandt  Park  were  found  by 
Mr.  James  in  pockets  similar  to  these. 
During  Indian  troubles  in  1675,  the 
Wickquaskeek  at  Ann's  Hook,  now 
Pelham  Neck,  were  told  "to  remove 
within  a  fortnight  to  their  usual  winter 
quarters  within  Hellgate  upon  this 
Island."  River  says,  "This  winter 
retreat  was  either  the  woodlands  be- 
tween Harlem  Plains  and  Kingsbridge, 
at  that  date  still  claimed  by  these 
Indians  as  hunting  grounds,  or  Rech- 
awanes  and  adjoining  lands  on  the 
Bay  of  Hellgate,  as  the  words  'within 
Hellgate'  would  strictly  mean,  and 
which,  by  the  immense  shellbeds  found 
there  formerly,  is  proved  to  have  been 
a  favorite  Indian  resort."3  A  little 
later  the  Indians  asked  to  be  allowed 
to  return  to  their  maize  lands  on  Man- 


1  New  York  Tribune,   Oct.  30,  1904,  and  New 
York  Sun,  Dec.  14,  1904. 

2  All  that  could  be  saved  of  this  skeleton  has 
been  presented  to  the  Museum  by  Mr.  Edward 
Hagaman  Hall. 

3  History  of  Harlem,  p.  366. 


48 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


hattan  Island  and  the  Governor  said 
that  they,  "if  they  desire  it,  be  admit- 
ted with  their  wives  and  children,  to 
plant  upon  this  Island,  but  nowhere 
else,  if  they  remove;  and  that  it  be 
upon  the  north  point  of  the  Island 
near  Spuyten  Duyvel."1 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Bolton  Post,  in  writ- 
ing to  the  editor  of    "The  Evening 
Post,"  June  19th  of  the  year  of  the 
opening   of  the   Harlem   Ship   Canal 
(1895),  speaks  of  some  Indians  who 
were  allowed  to  camp  on  the  south 
side  of  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek  on  the 
Bolton  property  in  1817.     Ruttenber 
says  that  the  Reckgawanc  had  their 
principal  village  at  Yonkers,  but  that 
on  Berrien's  Neck   (Spuyten  Duyvil 
Hill)  was  situated  their  castle  or  fort 
called  Nipinichsen.     This  fort  was  pro- 
tected by  a  strong  stockade  and  com- 
manded the  romantic  scenery  of  the 
Papirinimen,      or     Spuyten     Duyvil 
Creek,  and  the  Mahicanituk  (Hudson 
River),    the   junction    of   which    was 
called    the    Shorackappock.     It    was 
from  this  castle  that  the  Indians  came 
who  attacked  Hudson  on  his  return 
down   the    river.2    Some    small    shell 
deposits  occur  on  Spuyten  Duyvil  Hill, 
but  as  yet  this  "castile"  has  not  been 
definitely    located.     The    village    site 
at  Yonkers,  according  to  Mr.  James, 
is    now    covered    by    buildings;    but 
several  relics  found  near  the  site  years 
ago  are  now  in  the  Manor  Hall  at  that 
place  (1904). 

Judging  from  these  references,  we 
might  conclude  that  the  territory 
occupied  by  the  tribe  commonly  known 
as  Manhattans  including  Manhattan 
Island  and  that  part  of  the  mainland 
which  is  west  of  the  Bronx  River  north 


of  Yonkers,  and  that  these  Indians 
were  a  sub-tribe  of  the  Wappinger 
division  of  the  Mahikan. 

NOTABLE  TYPES  OF  REMAINS. 


1  History  of  Harlem,  p. 

2  Ruttenber,  pp.  77-78. 


Dog  Burials.     The  first  dog  burials 
were  found  by  Mr.  Calver  in   1895. 
The  first  burial  was  unearthed  at  the 
summit  of  a  ridge  of  soft  earth  at  209th 
Street,  near  the  Harlem  River.     The 
ridge,   which   was   about   twelve  feet 
high,  had  been  partly  cut  away  for  the 
grading    of    Ninth    Avenue.     It    was 
at  the  highest  part  of  the  hillock  that 
a  pocket  of  oyster  and  clam  shells  was 
noticed,  from  which  a  few  fragments 
of  Indian  pottery  which  lay  on  the 
face  of  the  bank  had  evidently  fallen. 
The  shells,  upon  inspection,  were  found 
to  have  served  as  a  covering  for  the 
skeleton  of  a  dog  or  wolf.     Another 
burial  was  found  on  May  18th  within 
fifty  yards  of  the  first  burial.     It  had 
been  covered  with  shells  just  as  the 
first  one,  but  had  been  disturbed  by 
workmen.     Mr.    Calver   says:     "The 
two  canine  burials  were  situated  at  a 
point  just  without  the  borders  of  the 
Harlem    River    shell-heap    and    were 
distinct    from    it.     The    shells    were 
found  to  be  matched,  hence  it  was  con- 
cluded that  they  were  thrown  in  un- 
opened or  eaten  on  the  spot.     As  the 
skeletons  were  intact  and  the  bones 
uninjured,  all  probability  of  the  ani- 
mals having  been  eaten  is  disposed  of. " 
These   burials   are    common     in   this 
vicinity,  Mr.  Calver  thinks  they  were 
for  some  religious  purpose,  and  suggests 
a  relation  to  the  "White  Dog  Feast" 
of  the  Onondaga  of  this  state.1    How- 
ever, it  is  known  that  the  carcass  of 
the  sacrificed  dog  was  burnt  by  the 

1  New  York  Herald.  May  Jti    1895. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


49 


Iroquois  and  the  explanation  given  on 
page  40  is  probably  correct. 

Indian  Burials.  Notwithstanding 
all  the  efforts  of  various  collectors, 
the  first  Indian  burials  to  be  discovered 
on  the  Island  were  due  to  the  activi- 
ties of  Messrs.  Bolton  and  Calver  in 
1904.  The  improvement  of  Seaman 
Avenue,  Inwood,  at  that  time,  uncov- 
ered many  relics  of  the  long  extinct 
Indian  inhabitants  among  which  Mr. 
Bolton  saw  unmistakable  signs  of 


mass  of  oyster  shells,  some  of  which 
were  unopened,  the  skeleton  reclined 
on  its  right  side,  facing  west.  The 
arms  were  flexed  and  crossed,  the  knees 
bent  and  the  head  thrown  back.  No 
traces  of  weapons  were  found,  nor 
were  there  any  other  objects  found, 
save  a  fragment  of  an  animal  bone. 
"The  location  and  position  led  to 
further  exploration,  which,  early  in 
1908,  led  to  still  more  interesting  dis- 
coveries. Sunday,  March  22nd,  being 


INDIAN  BURIAL,  MANHATTAN. 


Indian  graves.  To  quote  from  this 
gentleman:  "It  thus  became  evident 
that  there  were  human  interments 
in  the  vicinity,  and  in  August,  1907, 
the  first  burial  was  discovered  under 
a  shell  pit  in  Corbett's  garden.  The 
grading  process  had  been  extended 
only  about  eighteen  inches  below  the 
sod,  but  had  sufficed  to  destroy  the 
jaw  of  the  skeleton  which  extended 
upwards,  as  did  also  the  foot  bones. 
The  bones  lay  in  and  upon  a  close 


the  first  day  in  the  field  for  exploration 
for  the  season  for  1908,  W.  L.  Calver 
and  the  writer  met  at  Seaman  Avenue 
and  Hawthorne  Street,  Manhattan, 
to  discuss  plans  for  further  excavations 
on  this  Indian  village  site.  The  rains 
of  the  winter  1907-8  had  washed  the 
west  bank  where  the  layer  of  oyster 
shells  and  black  dirt  lay  along  the 
hill,  and  a  patch  of  red  burnt  earth 
was  observed,  which  on  digging  out, 
disclosed  a  fireplace,  evidently  of  the 


50 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


period  of  the  Revolution,  having  some 
large  burnt  stones,  ashes,  wood  char- 
coal, brick,  broken  rum  bottles,  a  wine 
glass  nearly  complete,  a  large  open 
clasp-knife  with  bone  handle,  a  hoop- 
iron  pot-hook,  various  forged  head 
nails  and  a  curious  folding  corkscrew. 
Gold  buttons  of  Revolutionary  pattern 
and  an  officer's  silver  button  of  the 
Royal  Marines,  together  with  pewter 
buttons  of  the  17th  Regiment  dis- 
closed who  had  occupied  the  spot. 

"At  one  part  of  this  fireplace,  we 
came  upon  a  pocket  of  oyster  shells, 
evidently  Indian,  about  two  feet  deep, 
and  on  removing  some  of  these,  had 
the  good  fortune  to  uncover  a  human 
thigh-bone.  We  worked  carefully 
into  the  shells  and  under  the  pocket, 
gradually  disclosing  the  complete  re- 
mains of  a  full-grown  man  lying  on  its 
right  side,  feet  to  the  north,  head 
facing  east,  knees  doubled  up,  the 
left  arm  extended  down  through  the 
thighs.  The  feet  had  been  within  the 
area  of  the  hole  in  which  the  Revolu- 
tionary fireplace  had  been  made,  and 
only  one  or  two  foot  bones  were  found. 
At  a  later  period  other  foot  bones  were 
found  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary fireplace,  evidently  having 
been  displaced  in  its  construction. 
The  right  arm  was  flexed,  and  the 
hand  was  under  the  head,  the  latter 
was  intact  and  every  tooth  was  in 
place.  Shells  had  been  packed  over 
the  body,  and  some  around  it.  We 
were  much  puzzled  by  a  number  of 
human  bones  lying  compactly  together 
by  the  skeleton,  in  a  position  that 
would  have  been  in  its  lap,  had  it  been 
upright. 

"We  removed  the  skull,  covered 
the  remains,  and  on  Sunday,  March 
29th,  renewed  the  work.  We  went 


carefully  to  work  upon  the  cluster  of 
mixed  bones  in  front  of  the  large  skel- 
eton, and  soon  found  them  to  be  rather 
compactly  arranged  in  a  rectangular 
form  about  14  by  26  inches,  the  long 
bones  parallel.  The  vertebrae  abrupt- 
ly ended  parallel  with  the  head  of  the 
larger  skeleton,  and  after  working  some 
time,  we  found  a  skull  placed  below, 
beneath  the  pile  of  bones  in  a  vertical 
position,  facing  north,  the  lower  jaw  of 
which  was  disengaged,  and  was  placed 
sideways  in  front  of  the  face.  The 
back  of  the  skull  was  broken  in,  and 
was  black  with  marks  of  burning. 
The  lower  jaw  was  burned,  and  some 
of  the  teeth  split  by  fire.  The  arm 
and  leg  bones  were  charred  at  the 
joints.  Inside  the  skull  was  a  burned 
toe  bone.  Some  oyster  shells  were 
among  the  charred  remains. 

"A  significant  fact  was  that  the 
right  arm  bones  of  the  large  skeleton 
were  below  the  pile  of  burned  bones. 
This  feature,  and  the  compact  arrange- 
ment of  the  latter  within  the  space 
in  front  of  and  at  the  same  level  as  the 
large  skeleton,  seem  to  point  strongly 
towards  an  intentional  arrangement 
of  these  bones,  in  front  of  the  large 
corpse  and  to  indicate  the  simultane- 
ous burial  of  the  two  bodies.  On  ex- 
amination, the  large  skeleton  proved 
to  be  that  of  an  adult  male,  and  the 
dismembered  remains  those  of  a  female 
of  about  35  years  of  age.  No  imple- 
ments were  found  with  the  remains, 
but  a  part  of  a  stone  pestle  and  a  rude 
celt  lay  under  the  sod  among  the  oy- 
sters above  the  large  skeleton. 

"On  Sunday,  June  14,  1908,  another 
burial  was  found  about  20  feet  north 
of  the  above.  This  burial  consisted 
of  an  adult  skeleton  doubled  up  and 
its  back  much  curved,  and  was  appar- 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


51 


LOCATION  OF  BURIALS,  PITS  AND  SHELL-BEDS  NEAR  INWOOD. 


Shell  pit, 
Shell 


pottery.  5.  Shell 
pits.  10.  Human 
15.  Part  of  a  jar. 


1.  Human  remains.     2.  Shell   pit,   deer   antler.     3.  Shell   pit.     4 
pits.     6.  Shell   pit,    sturgeon   below.     7.  Shell   pit,   sturgeon   scales.     8,    9. 
remains.     11.  Fire  pit.     12.  Shell  pit.     13.  Dog  burial,  puppy.     14.  Shell  pit. 

16.  Shell  pit,  fish  and  meat  bones.  17.  Shell  pits.  18.  Two  dogs  in  shell  pit.  19.  Human  skeleton, 
1907.  19a.  Female  skeleton,  1908.  20.  Human  remains  when  house  was  built.  21.  Small  fire  pits, 
Revolutionary.  22.  Large  shell  pit.  23.  Large  shell  pit.  24.  Shell  pit.  25.  Dog  burial.  26,  27,  28. 
Shell  pits.  29.  Two  human  skeletons,  male  and  female.  30.  Revolutionary  fireplace  "Royal  Marines 
and  "17th."  31.  Skeleton  and  infant,  female.  32.  Skeleton  (Chenoweth,  1908).  33.  Revolutionary 
fireplace,  71st,  officers'  buttons.  D.  Dyckman  dwelling.  R1,  R2.  Revolutionary  fireplaces.  R3. 
Revolutionary  well. 


52 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


ently  that  of  a  female  of  mature  age. 
Between  the  knees,  the  remains  of  a 
small  infant  were  laid,  the  skull  of  the 
latter  being  fragmentary.  The  right 
hand  of  the  adult  was  below  the  infant 
and  the  left  hand  around  the  throat. 
The  skull  was  intact  and  had  nearly 
all  the  teeth.  One  finger  bone  had 
grown  together  at  the  joint  in  a  crook- 
ed position  apparently  due  to  disease. 
On  lifting  the  ribs  of  the  right  side,  an 
arrow-head  of  flint  fell  out  between  the 
fourth  and  fifth  bones.  These  skele- 
tons lay  about  two  and  a  half  feet  be- 
low the  grass,  and  a  pocket  of  oyster 
shells  was  over  the  head.  The  woman's 
remains  lay  within  a  space  about  31 
inches  long  by  50  inches  wide,  flat 
in  the  hard  red  sand  bed  facing 
east. 

"Shortly  after  these  remains  were 
discovered,  Mr.  Chenoweth  extended 
the  excavation  previously  made  by 
the  explorers  at  the  side  of  a  large 
oyster  shell  pit  in  the  same  bank  of 
sand,  and  uncovered  a  male  skeleton 
of  which  he  preserved  the  skull.  Some 
small  fragments  of  the  skeleton  were 
afterwards  found  by  the  writer  on  this 
spot.  Contractors  for  the  sewer  in 
Seaman  Avenue  also  uncovered  the 
remains  of  a  young  female  close  to  the 
position  of  several  of  the  shell  pits 
previously  described. 

' '  These  interments  have  some  curi- 
ous features.  The  position  of  the 
remains  facing  east,  sometimes  west, 
the  absence  of  weapons  or  other  ob- 
jects and  the  oyster  shells  packed  with 
or  above  them  are  subjects  for  inter- 
esting discussion  on  which  future 
finds  may  throw  much  light,  as  also 
upon  the  peculiar  double  burial  and 
the  burnt  state  of  the  female  re- 
mains." 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Anthropological  Papers  of  the  Amer- 
ican Museum  of  Natural  History,  Vol- 
ume III;  Hudson-Fulton  Publication, 
1 '  The  Indians  of  Greater  New  York 
and  the  Lower  Hudson. "  New  York, 
1909. 

This  volume  contains  a  series  of 
papers  by  Messrs.  Finch,  Bolton, 
Harrington,  Speck,  Schrabisch,  and 
Skinner,  dealing  minutely  with  all 
phases  of  the  subject  in  a  thoroughly 
scientific  and  less  popular  manner  than 
the  present  volume.  Especial  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  the  research  in  local 
archaeology,  with  maps  and  notes  on 
most  of  the  important  sites.  The 
Museum  also  published  a  guide  leaf- 
let to  the  collection  on  exhibition. 

Skinner,  Alanson,  The  Indians  of 
Greater  New  York;  Torch  Press, 
Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  1915. 

A  very  full  and  thoroughgoing  ac- 
count of  the  history  and  ethnology 
of  the  local  Indians,  containing  many 
sources  not  available  at  the  time  when 
volume  III  of  the  Anthropological 
Papers  was  published.  The  archaeol- 
ogy of  the  locality  is  also  written  up 
in  a  more  popular  style  than  the 
preceding  publication.  These  two 
papers  with  the  present  guide  leaflet 
bring  the  subject  of  our  local  Indians 
thoroughly  up  to  date  and  summarize 
the  older  authors. 

Ruttenber,  E.  M.t  History  of  the 
Indian  Tribes  of  the  Hudson  River. 
Albany,  1872. 

A  little  old-fashioned  in  style,  and 
with  a  few  errors,  but  brimful  of  all 
sorts  of  useful  information  on  tli<> 
subject. 

Beauchamp,  Rev.  W.  M.,  Bulletin 
of  the  New  York  Stutc  Museum.  Nos. 
16,  18,  22,  32,  41. 


INDIANS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND 


53 


These  list,  figure,  and  describe  the 
types  of  chipped  and  polished  stone 
implements,  and  the  pottery,  shell, 
bone,  metal,  and  wooden  utensils 
found  in  New  York  State.  Bulletin 
32  contains  a  list  of  all  the  Indian 
village  and  camp  sites,  shell-heaps, 
rock  and  cave  shelters,  and  cemeteries 
then  recorded  from  the  entire  State, 
with  a  map  upon  which  the  locations 
of  these  are  plotted.  This  series  is 
invaluable  to  the  student,  especially 
to  one  engaged  in  research  work. 

Farrand,  Livingston,  Basis  of  Amer- 
ican History.  Harpers :  The  American 
Nation  Nation  Series;  Vol.  I. 

"This  volume  contains  a  careful 
review  of  the  physical  features  of 
North  America,  which  is  exceedingly 
helpful  to  the  student  in  understanding 
the  development  of  the  various  colo- 
nies. This  is  supplemented  by  a  survey 
of  the  principal  lines  of  communica- 
tion— Indian  trails,  portages,  water- 
ways, and  mountain  passes — which 
have  been  of  the  utmost  importance 
in  determining  the  course  of  events 
in  American  history  *  Of 

particular  value  is  Professor  Farrand's 
able  discussion  of  the  American 
Indians.  Reasoning  from  a  great  mass 
of  collected  data,  he  reaches  sane 
and  conservative  conclusions.  The 
author  has  made  a  point  of  condensa- 
tion, and  has  supplied  the  want  of  a 
thorough,  systematic  study  of  the 
Indians  in  a  small  compass." 

Heckwelder,  J.  G.  E.,  History,  Man- 
ners, and  Customs  of  the  Indian 
Nations  who  once  inhabited  Pennsyl- 
vania. Philadelphia,  1876. 

At  the  present  writing  this  is  the 
most  complete  source  of  information 
on  the  Delaware  Indians  from  the 


time  of  their  migration  from  New 
Jersey  and  Eastern  Pennsylvania  to 
the  Ohio  Valley. 

Harrington,  M.  R.,  "Some Customs 
of  the  Delaware  Indians;"  the  Mus- 
eum Journal  of  the  Museum  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  I, 
No.  3;  and  "Vestiges  of  Material 
Culture  Among  the  Canadian  Dela- 
wares, "  American  Anthropologist, 
N.  S.  Vol.  10  No.  3,  1908,  A  Prelim- 
inary Sketch  of  Lenape  culture,  Ibid 
Vol.  15  P.  208. 

The  most  recent  account  of  the 
Delaware,  but  merely  preliminary 
sketches,  forerunners  of  a  much  larger 
work  based  on  personal  archaeological 
research  about  New  York  City  and 
ethnological  study  among  the  surviving 
Delaware  of  Canada  and  Oklahoma, 
which,  when  given  to  the  public,  will 
be  the  dernier  mot  on  the  subject. 

Brinton,  D.  G.,  The  Lenape  and 
Their  Legends;  Philadelphia,  1885. 
This  work  contains  the  Walum  Olum 
and  its  translation,  in  addition  to  a 
mass  of  ethnological  material.  An 
excellent  treatise  on  the  Delaware 
Indians. 

O'Callaghan,  E.  B.,  Documentary 
History  of  New  York.  Four  volumes; 
Albany,  1863-7. 

Contains,  as  its  name  implies,  many 
of  the  early  documents  relating  to  the 
settlement  of  New  York.  A  very 
important  work  containing  many  of 
the  sources  of  the  present  volume. 

De  Vries,  David  Peterson,  Voyages 
from  Holland  to  America;  (trans- 
lation) ;  New  York,  1853.  A  rare  and 
valuable  work,  to  be  obtained  only  in 
the  large  public  libraries.  This  is  the 
personal  account  of  the  good  patroon's 
own  experience  as  an  eye-witness  and 


54 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  GUIDE  LEAFLETS 


participator  in  the  early  Indian  wars 
in  the  New  Netherlands.  Written  in 
a  naive,  fluent  and  interesting  manner. 

Morgan,  Lewis  H.,  The  League  of 
the  Iroquois.  In  several  editions. 

A  comprehensive  study  of  the  Five, 
later  Six  Nations,  especially  of  the 
Seneca.  One  of  the  first  careful  scien- 
tific studies  ever  made  of  any  tribe,  and 
still  a  classic. 

Parker,  A.  C.,  An  Erie  Indian 
Village  and  Cemetery,  Iroquois  Corn 
Foods,  and  other  publications  in  the 
Bulletins  of  the  New  York  State  Mu- 
seum, Albany,  N.  Y.;  in  thesame  series 
as  those  of  Dr.  William  Beauchamp. 


The  first  of  the  works  mentioned  is 
the  best  published  account  of  the 
archaeological  work  on  any  one  site 
in  the  State,  and  should  be  read  by 
everyone  intending  to  do  research. 

The  second  gives  a  valuable  insight 
into  ancient  Indian  methods  of  cookery. 

All  of  Mr.  Parker's  works  are  val- 
uable because  of  his  deep  knowledge 
of  all  things  Indian  and  his  experience 
as  State  Archaeologist. 

Furman,  Gabriel,  Antiquities  of  Long 
Island,  N.  Y.  1874. 

Tooker,  W.  TF.,  Indian  Place-Nairn- 
on  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  1911  (Knick- 
erbocker Press). 


THE  THUNDERBIRD 


Engraved  on  a  fragment  of  pottery  found  at  Shinneeock  Hills,  Long  Island.  The  thumler- 
birds  were  gods  and  patrons  of  warriors  and  it  is  one  of  their  duties  to  guard  mankind  from  the 
evil  horned  serpents  (page  10)  that  dwell  under  the  earth  or  beneath  the  waters. 


The  collection,  which  represents  about  500  falls,  numbering  some  2,000 
specimens,  includes  the  great  "Ahnighito"  meteorite,  weighing  36^  tons, 
brought  from  Greenland  by  Peary,  the  strange  "Willamette"  meteorite 
and  the  "Canyon  Diablo"  which  contains  minute  diamonds. 

THE  HABITAT  GROUPS  OF  NORTH  AMERICAN  BIRDS.  By  FRANK  M.  CHAP- 
MAN, Curator  of  Ornithology.  February,  1909.  Price,  15  cents. 

These  celebrated  groups  are  designed  to  illustrate  not  only  the  habits 
but  also  the  haunts,  or  habitats,  of  the  species  shown.  The  backgrounds 
are  careful  studies  from  nature  and  each  represents  some  definite  locality. 
Twenty-two  of  these  groups  are  shown  in  this  leaflet. 

THE  BATRACHIANS  OF  THE  VICINITY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY.  By  RAYMOND 
L.  DITMARS,  Curator  of  Reptiles,  New  York  Zoological  Park.  October,  1905. 
Price,  15  cents. 

THE  BIRDS  OF  THE  VICINITY  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY.     BY  FRANK  M.  CHAP- 
MAN, Curator  of  Ornithology.     April-July,  1906.     Price,  15  cents. 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  HORSE.     By    W.    D.    MATTHEW,    Ph.D.,    Curator, 
Department  of  Vertebrate  Palaeontology.     63  pages,  39  illustrations.      Price,  20 
cintx. 

The  past  geologic  history  of  the  Horse  affords  the  most  complete  and 
convincing  illustration  of  evolution  among  mammals.  This  leaflet,  based 
upon  material  in  this  Museum,  describes  the  siu-ocssive  stages  in  its  evolution 
from  the  four-toed  " Eohippus  no  bigger  than  a  fox"  to  the  single-toed  horse 
of  to-d:iv. 

THE  INDIVNS  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND  AND  VICINITY.  By  ALANSON 
SKIVXEK,  Assistant  Curator,  Department  of  Anthropology.  April,  1915. 
Price,  20  cents. 

BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  ANTARCTIC  EXPLORATION.  March,  1910.  Revised 
March,  1915.  Price,  10  cent*. 

A  summary  of  the  Exploration  of  Antarctic  Regions,  from  the  voyage  of 
Captain  Cook  in  1768-1777xdown  to  Mawson's  expedition  in  1913. 
PLANT  FORMS  IN  WAX.     By  E.   C.   B.   FASSETT.     November,   1911.     Price,   10 
cents. 

Tells  how  reproductions  of  foliage  and  flowers,  such  as  are  used  in  the 
bird  groups,  are  made. 
HOW  TO  COLLECT  AND  PRESERVE  INSECTS.     By  FRANK  E.  LUTZ.     Price, 

10  cents 
( )1'H  COMMON  BUTTERFLIES.     By  FRANK  E.  LUTZ  and  F.  E.  WATSON. 

Describes  and  figures  natural  size  about  40  species  of  our  more  common 
butterflies.  Price,  15  cents. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  COLLECTIONS 
ILLUSTRATED 

New   Edition   issued    December,    1914,    127    pages, 
65  illustrations,  many  full  page.       Price  25  cents. 


These  publications  may  be  purchased  in  the  Visitors'  Room,  near  the 
entrance,  from  the  Attendants  or  from  the  Librarian. 


AMERICAN  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


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